


o death

by saintsansa



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: Character Death, Drama, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Original Character Death(s), Post-Apocalypse, lots of death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:27:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 30,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25496071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saintsansa/pseuds/saintsansa
Summary: ❝ 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐇𝐈𝐃𝐄, 𝐈𝐓 𝐃𝐎𝐄𝐒𝐍'𝐓 𝐆𝐎 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐘. ❞[the last of us pt 1 & 2][joel miller x oc][ellie williams x oc][k.h.]
Relationships: Ellie (The Last of Us)/Original Character(s), Joel/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 22





	1. won't you spare me over another year?

"SOMETIMES I THINK I'M NOT MADE FOR THIS WORLD," her fingers shakily intertwined before forming into a tight fist. Letting out an uneven breath, her bloodied hands reached up to comb through her greasy brown hair. Tears stung her bloodshot eyes. Through her tears, she looked up towards the children's drawing taped to the midnight blue bedroom wall. Each crayon scribble was labeled with the name of a family member; Mom, Dad, Katie, etc.

A small droplet landed on her thumb, grabbing her attention. A tiny dot of scarlet filled her with dread and guilt. This was her doing. She hadn't meant to. There so many fucking infected, though. A gentle hand rested on her right shoulder, eliciting a flinch from the woman. "You're safe, Nia." The voice was soothing and calm - maybe even a little pitiful. She hated that. She hated the woman's pity. The last thing she needed was anyone's pity.

Pushing herself off of the child's bed, she rubbed her face with her dirty hands. Her eyes looked up to meet the soft brown ones of Marlene. "I..." She trailed off, not finding sense in the words that rushed through her mind. Her friend shook her head, understanding all she needed to. "I can't keep doing this." She finally managed to croak out. The bags under her eyes told a story of a tired and desperate woman.

"I understand," Marlene's voice was hesitant, "but I need you for one more mission."

Letting out a string of curses, a harsh glare came over her eyes. Her body shoved past Marlene without a word. Anger bubbled up in her. That was something she felt a lot recently. Bruises of various colors littered her knuckles - the paintings of the rage that consumed her. She knew how they looked at her; they were scared of her and she hated that. She wanted nothing more than to be friends with everyone, but her temper was just too damn short. At the end of most days, she felt more alone than anyone on this planet.

"Nia!" The voice shouted from behind her. The brunette stopped in her tracks, tightening her fists before letting them hang free. "I'm serious. I need you for this. It's important."

"I need to get home to Kya and Matto."

"I know," Marlene spoke softly as she approached her friend, "but we need you more than they do." Resting her hand on the woman's shoulder, she lets out a small sigh. Her hand squeezes the woman's shoulder before walking off.

Glancing around the small apartment, Shania let out a small breath. Sunken eyes land on a small bottle of pink nail polish. Kneeling down, she grabbed the small bottle and opened it. A smile grew on her lips when she noticed that it was still somehow usable. There may have only been a little bit that wasn't dry, but she figured some was better than none. Stuffing it in her front jean pocket, she pushed herself up.

Taking a step, her boot made contact with something wet and sticky. Her gaze turned down, taking in the corpse of the familiar woman, she let out a sigh. 'It was an accident,' she told herself. Stepping over the body, she made her way out of the apartment to catch up with Marlene.

The woman was waiting outside, leaning against the railing of the hallway. "Look-"

Shania cut her off, holding a hand up to stop her. "Let's get this over with." Pushing past her friend, she bounded down the steps towards the small car they had gotten working a few months prior. Climbing into the passenger seat, she keeps her eyes ahead, hoping to keep her nerves about her.

The further Marlene drove down the road, the more the surroundings became familiar. Furrowing her dark and scarred eyebrows, Shania glances towards the driver. "I take it you're going through with your plan to attack the district?"

"We are."

Nodding slowly, the brunette rolled her eyes. One thing she had never understood was Marlene's hatred for the districts. Did she want a Lord of the Flies type of world? Letting out a sigh, Shania rested her head against the window of the small car. As her eyes slowly closed, she was thrust awake when Marlene slammed on the brakes. The car skidded across the rough pavement before colliding with a body. As the car finally stopped short, both women panted with wide eyes.

Throwing her seatbelt off and flinging the car door open, Shania pushed herself out of the car to look at the body on the road. The body remained still in the middle of the road. With a shaky breath, she slowly made her way towards it. Marlene slowly walks a couple of feet across from Shania. The two share a glance before turning back to the body. Before they can react, the person begins firing at them.

Shouts and curses spill from their lips as they run back into the car. Marlene's body slams against the driver's seat with a grunt. Her hand holds her thigh tightly as blood spills past her fingers. Pulling out her pistol, Shania took a deep breath before glancing out of the car. The person was gone. "Fuck," she hissed before turning to Marlene, "you have to move. We have to get out of here."

"I don't think I can move." Marlene winces as she looks down at her wound.

Rolling her eyes, Shania pushes herself out of the car. After rounding the front, she wraps her arm around Marlene's waist and pulls her out of the car. The woman shouts in pain as they make their way over to the passenger side. Setting her in the car, Shania quickly made her way over to the driver's side and attempts to start the car, only to be met with a sputtering engine. "Fuck!" she shouts and slams her hands against the steering wheel. "Alright, we have to walk."

"I can't-"

"Well, you fucking have to!" Shania shouted as she ran a shaky hand through her hair. "Marlene," she spoke with a more reserved tone, "we have to go. That guy's gonna come back and I don't think he's gonna just graze us next time."

With a soft sigh, Marlene and Shania share a look. The woman nods in agreement before starting to pull herself out of the car. Clinging to the brunette, she shuffles away from the car and away from the area. The two duck into a slim alleyway between a cluster of tall buildings. Both pant harder with every step; exhaustion nearly leaks from every pore in their bodies. Sweat begins to drip down their foreheads and staining the armpits of their shirts. "Nia, I can't." She huffed through gritted teeth, holding the wound on her thigh tightly. Blood continuously leaked from the graze.

A soft curse slipped from Shania's lips as she gently set her friend down against a rusted air conditioning unit. Running a hand through her knotted hair, her eyes darted around the area for any sign of hostiles. 'Think, Nia, think.' She told herself as she leaned down, her hands against her knees. Loud ringing filled her ears the more she concentrated on the ground.

The sound of a bird singing above her grabbed her attention. Looking up, she chuckled at the stupid idea that had popped into her head. "Lene, we have to get on high ground."

"Fuck off." Marlene hissed, rolling her eyes at her friend's stupid plan. "Even if I wanted to, I can't go up any stairs."

"We have to."

"Who's this 'we'?" Marlene snapped as she sent a sharp glare to the brunette. "Last time I checked, you wanted to leave the Fireflies."

Rolling her eyes, Shania wrapped an arm around Marlene's waist and hoisted her off of the air conditioning unit. "But you still need me for one more mission, remember?" As they neared a broken door of the building to their left, a loud explosion could be heard from the distance. Marlene let out a soft string of curses before shaking her head. She was the leader and she wasn't there to support her people. "Hey," Shania spoke, "let's just get somewhere, alright? One problem at a time."

Before the two can begin their ascent, screaming not far from them grabbed their attention. "Shit!" Marlene exclaimed as she pulled Natalie towards the screaming. "I forgot about Robert!" She takes off limping down the alley towards the screaming. Shania lets out a sigh of frustration before jogging after her friend and leader. Before they reach another alleyway, a gunshot rings out, silencing the screams. "Fuck." Marlene hisses as she hobbles her way around the corner of a building. She stops in her tracks and Shania skids to a stop beside the woman. Her eyes land on the bloodied corpse of a man on the ground between a man and a woman.

"Well, there you go - queen Firefly." The man speaks to the woman with his rough voice.

"Why are you here?" Marlene asked. She leans against the brick wall to relieve any weight she'd be putting on her wounded leg. Shania takes a step closer to Marlene, cautiously watching the man pacing.

"Business." The woman answers. Her sunken eyes take in Marlene's bloodied hand, her leg that's dripping with blood, and the sweat that drips from her forehead. Her gaze glances to the brunette next to Marlene before turning back to her. "You aren't looking so hot."

With a roll of her eyes, she glances between Shania and her wound. She grits her teeth before turning her attention back to the two survivors. "Look, I needed Robert alive."

"Those guns he gave you," the woman started, cocking her head to the side, "weren't his to sell." The way she waves her gun around carelessly sets Shania on edge as she continues to watch the scene, remaining silent. "I want them back."

Shaking her head, Marlene adjusts her weight on her right leg. "It doesn't work like that, Tess." Tess, that name sounded familiar to Shania. Furrowing her eyebrows, she took in their appearances. They clearly hadn't gotten much sleep, but who had these days? Their clothes were dirty with small splattering of blood and dust covering them. They looked like nearly everyone in this brave new world - survivors.

"The hell it doesn't." Tess practically hissed, taking a step closer to Marlene.

"I paid for those guns." Marlene glanced over to Shania. With a soft sigh, the brunette rolled her eyes. She knew what that look meant; it meant that Marlene had an idea. Pushing herself away from the wall, she began limping towards the two. "You want 'em back? You're gonna have to earn 'em."

The two in front of her shared a look. The man remained emotionless, deciding to stay silent. With a huff of annoyance, Tess turned back to Marlene. "How many cards are we talking 'bout?"

Letting out a scoff, Marlene shook her head. "I don't give a damn about ration cards. I..." She trailed off, glancing back at Shania. "We need something smuggled out of the city." Shania's eyes widened. The only times Marlene had included her were when she knew it was a bad idea. She supposed she was most likely a patsy, a fallback, someone to blame when shit hit the fan. "You do that and I'll give you your guns back and then some.

Before anyone else could speak, the man finally took a few steps forward. His arms crossed his chest as his deep and tired stare bore through Marlene and Shania. "How do we know y'all got 'em?" Leaning his weight on his left leg, he sized the two women up, looking for any signs of false witness. "Way I hear it, the military's been wiping you guys out."

Both Marlene and Shania shared a sad look. They had seen countless tragedies in their time with the Fireflies. Their friends and their loved ones executed like barnyard animals or strung up as reminders for those who dared cross the military. "You're right about that." With another sigh, Marlene nodded. "I'll show you the weapons."

The sound of soldiers nearby set the four on edge. They all flinched back, darting their gazes in every direction. "We have to move," Marlene spoke as she limped back, "what's it gonna be?"

The two survivors shared a look before beginning to follow Marlene and Shania. They made their way through the concrete courtyard and up a small flight of brick stairs. Taking a left through the alley they had just come from, they make their way up to a stack of large wooden crates. A green and rusted ladder dangles just above one of the crates. Shania grabs Marlene by the waist and boosts her up to the top of the crate before lifting herself up. The two behind her do the same as her and Marlene begin climbing the ladder. Making their way up another flight of stairs, they walk across the rooftop of a small apartment complex.

Before they can move, an explosion goes off in the distance. "Holy shit." Tess scoffs as the two catch up with them. "Is that your people?"

"What's left of them." Marlene answers grimly.

Shania looks to her friend with wide eyes. Her bloodied hands tighten into fists as she takes in the lack of emotions in the woman's face. Images of Matto and Kya pass through her mind. Her right hand taps her jean pocket, sighing at the familiar feeling of the nail polish bottle.

The group makes their way across another rooftop and down towards an open window. "So, why now?" The man asks as he follows closely behind the three women.

"We've been quiet. Been planning on leaving the city but they need a scapegoat. They're trying to rile us up." Marlene answered.

"Looks like they did." He responded, eliciting a soft chuckle from the brunette. That did not go unmissed by both him and Marlene.

"We're trying to defend ourselves." Marlene spoke pointedly, glaring at the woman next to her. Shania jumps down into the room before holding her arms out to gently help Marlene into the room. The group makes their way over to a large steel blue door. Grabbing the handle, Marlene attempts to pull it open. She grunts in pain as she pulls as hard as she can. Shania stops her, softly pulling her away from the door.

"You, man," Shania points at the man, "help me with the door."

"It's Joel." He responds gruffly as he makes his way over to help her.

"Like Billy Joel or Joel Osteen?"

"Who's that?"

With furrowed eyebrows, she stutters out another question. "Which... Which one? Billy Joel or-"

"I know who Billy Joel is." He responds as they begin pushing the door open. "Who's the other guy?"

"Oh!" She chuckles as they push the door fully open. "He's some creepy preacher from back in the day. Pretty sure he scammed people or something."

With a slow nod, he wiped the dust off of his hands and onto his jeans. "We'll stick with Billy Joel then."

"Good choice." Shania chuckled as the group made their way through the door and down a set of stairs. As they make their way down the stairs, Joel takes notice that the brunette in front of him begins lowly humming a song. The closer he listened, the more he could recognize. We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel. He let out an almost silent chuckle as he followed the group.

He had to admit, she was an odd one. She didn't quite strike him as a Firefly member, but then what the hell was doing hanging around Marlene? In his many encounters with Marlene, he had never heard the woman mention a friend by name and he had certainly never met her before today. Maybe she was new? But those scars and her sunken and tired eyes told him different. He'd have to ask Tess about it when he got the chance.

Pushing up against a large wooden crate, Marlene watched a military guard patrol the area. Rolling her eyes, she turned to Shania with a glare. "Stop humming." She sharply whispered behind gritted teeth.

"Sorry." Shania whispered as she reached for her pistol. A soft groan escaped her lips as she remembered leaving it in the old car they had hit the man with. "I dropped my gun at the car."

"What?" Marlene turned with wide eyes. "Are you fucking serious?"

"I had to carry you out of there, what did you fucking expect?"

The two began to argue through whispers, much to the dismay of the two next to them. Tess sighed before pulling out one of her spare pistols and holding it out to the woman. "Let's get this show on the road."


	2. for whom the bell tolls

WIPING AWAY SWEAT WITH THE BACK OF HER HAND, she stared down at the bloodied and battered corpse. Her bruised and scarred hands gripped the wrench so tight that her rough knuckles began to turn egg white. Breaths escaped her lips in heavy pants as she tried to calm her speeding heart. In her temples, a dull pain began to pulsate. Three pairs of eyes cautiously watch her, waiting for any sign of her mental break. Turning to the small group, she finally regained her breath. "Sorry. I..." She trailed off.

Marlene shook her head, placing her hand on the woman's shoulder. "Let's just get somewhere safe." She leads the group away from the area and into an old and rusted warehouse. The brunette trails behind the rest, still gripping the bloodied wrench. Looking down at it, she winces at the pieces of hair that stick to the end of it. Had she really been that brutal? Furrowing her eyebrows, she attempted to recall it, but found her mind a blank. It was like she saw red and something took over her.

Every now and then, the two survivors in front of her glance back at her with suspicion in their eyes. They lean in, whispering to each other as the group makes their way through the building. Shania looks down at her feet, not wanting to see them look at her like a monster. "How you holdin' up?" Tess asks Marlene as they exit out of the building.

"Runnin' on fumes." She responds with a grunt of pain. "But I'll make it."

Making their way to another building, the loudspeaker above them began blaring a message. "Attention. Curfew is now in full effect." The female announcer spoke. "Anyone caught outside without proper authorization will be arrested and prosecuted."

The group made their way into another building. "What the hell are we smuggling?" Joel asked with a hesitant tone to his voice.

"We'll show you." Marlene responded as she hobbled up a set of steps. The announcement of curfew repeated, making the rest of the group uneasy. She began trying to push open a large metal door. With a huff of frustration, she turned to Joel and Shania. "Would you two mind opening this for me?"

Joel glanced warily at the brunette woman that joined his side. There were dried spatters of blood on her cheek and chin. The dark circles under her eyes had deepened as did her frown. Setting the wrench down on a nearby shelf, she joined him in shoving the door open. As soon as the door opened, Marlene stumbled to her knees, panting as sweat trickled down her forehead. Shania knelt down next to the woman in an attempt to help her up.

"Get the fuck away from her!" A girl shouted from their right, charging at them with a small pocket knife.

The entire group darted their attention to the girl. "Hey, hey, hey!" Tess exclaimed as she shoved the girl back. Her hand clasped the girl's wrist that held the knife.

"Let her go." Marlene spoke through clenched teeth.

Joel turned to the two women on the ground. His glare was sharp and spiteful. "You're recruitin' kind of young, aren't you?"

Marlene slowly pushed herself off of the ground, clinging to Shania. "She's not one of mine." As they made their way to a couch to set Marlene down, the girl cursed before making her way over. Her youthful eyes stared in fright at the blood that covered both of the women. "Don't worry." Marlene attempted to calm the girl down. "This is fixable. We got help." Pressing her body against the arm of the couch, she turned to the young girl. "But I can't come with you."

Shania and the girl furrowed their eyebrows. The girl looked up to Shania with a curious gaze. "Well, then I'm staying."

"Ellie, we won't get another shot at this." Marlene spoke with her calm yet commanding tone. Her gaze turned to Shania. "And I still need you for one more mission."

"I thought saving your life was the mission." Shania mumbled as she made her way towards a window. Part of her knew this would happen. Every day, she would say, 'this is my last one,' but there was always another, and another, and another. Perhaps this was the cycle she was doomed to repeat until the day someone put a bullet in her head. With tired eyes, she looked out over the landscape of abandoned and broken buildings. The sun that slowly slipped behind the horizon gave her a smile and maybe a small glimmer of hope to see her babies again.

"There's a crew of Fireflies that'll meet you at the Capitol building." Marlene spoke. Her gaze turned to Shania. "Nia here knows the way better than anybody. She can take you."

"No offense," Joel started, his eyes glancing up at the woman at the window, "but I don't feel too comfortable following a woman I just saw beat two guards' heads in with a wrench."

"Don't act like you haven't done anything like that before." Marlene snapped. No matter how many times they had argued, Shania was still one of Marlene's closest friends and advisers. "She did what she had to do to get us out of there. She's the most trustworthy person I've ever met."

Both Joel and Tess shared a look. "So, we hand her off and then what?" Tess asked with a speculative gaze in her eyes.

"You come back and the weapons will be yours. You'll never have to deal with us again." Marlene let out a soft grunt as she adjusted her weight. "Double what Robert sold me."

Tess scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Speaking of which - where are they?"

"Back in our camp." The woman answered.

"We're not smuggling shit until I see them."

"You can follow me." Marlene spoke as she pushed herself off of the couch. "You can verify the weapons and I can get patched up." Her eyes turned to Ellie. "But she's not crossing to that part of town." Her tired gaze moved to look to Joel before moving to Shania, who still watched out the window. "I want Joel and Nia to watch over her."

"Whoa, whoa. I don't think that's the best idea." Joel spoke.

"Bullshit! I'm not going with him!" Ellie exclaimed.

Shania remained silent at the window. Her tan arms crossed over her chest as she watched the red sun make its journey behind the horizon. She didn't care what Marlene told her to do. As long as it got her home to Kya and Matto, she would do whatever. Her interactions with Ellie had been sparse, but she knew that her and Kya had gotten along the few times they had been together. It was rare for Kya to leave the compound but the few times she had to go with Shania to learn how to hunt or how to shoot, she had always been paired up with Ellie.

"I suppose this is my one last mission?" Shania broke her silence to ask Marlene.

"Look," Marlene started with a pleading look in her eyes, "you help them to the Capitol building, join the Fireflies there, and when I get there, you're free to go."

Nodding, Shania turned her attention back to the window. Something in her told her that it wouldn't be that easy; things with Marlene never were.

"How do you know them?" Ellie asked Marlene.

"I was close with his brother, Tommy."

The name grabbed Shania's attention. She spun her body around quickly to face the group. "You're Tommy's brother?" She asked through a rough and hoarse voice. Her bloodshot eyes were wide with surprise. When the man nodded, she chuckled before pulling her backpack off and beginning to rummage through it. After a moment of all eyes on her, she pulls out a Polaroid photo. "I took this at the Christmas party we had a couple years ago before he ditched. If you ever see him again, show this to 'im."

She approached Joel and held the photo out to him. His fingers gently took the photo, holding it up for him to view. In the photo, his brother was wearing a Santa hat while kissing a mannequin under a mistletoe. From the bottle of whiskey he held in his hand, it was obvious that Tommy wasn't quite sober when the photo was taken. A small smile grew on his lips as he let out a silent chuckle. A ping of remorse filled him the more he looked over the photo. He missed his younger brother more than he thought he would. He thought maybe keeping it out of mind, he wouldn't feel as bad, but seeing this photo stirred up every emotion he thought he had buried long ago. Looking up, he gave a nod. "Thanks," Joel spoke before putting the photo in his jean pocket.

"Look," Shania spoke, her eyes still on Joel, "I'm sorry for what happened back there with the guards. I... I'd say it won't happen again, but I hate breaking my word. This is my last mission before I'm out of here for good with my kid. Why would I try to fuck all that up?"

Marlene shifted her weight, glancing down at her feet. It was a small gesture but did not go unnoticed by Shania. "She's good people." Marlene spoke up, tearing her gaze from the floor back to Joel.

Tess stepped towards Joel, grabbing his arm to pull his attention to her. "Look, just take them to the north tunnel and wait for me there."

With a groan, Joel rubbed his face. "Jesus Christ." He mumbled.

"She's just cargo, Joel." Tess reasoned. The sentence put a sour taste in Shania's mouth. Maybe the woman was right, but with the girl right there, it seemed a bit... rude. But she got it. No attachments. That was a grand rule for life, if she were being honest.

As Ellie raised concerns to Marlene, the woman was quick to shut her down. "You know Nia. You can trust her. I trust them both. You'll be fine." Pushing herself towards the door, she gently squeezed Ellie's shoulder in reassurance. "Now go with them."

Joel turned to Tess. His finger pointed directly in her face. "Don't take long." His gaze turned to Ellie. "You stay close." Making his way towards the back door, he opened it slowly to check for any hostiles. At the sight of none, he lead the two girls out of the building, leaving Tess and Marlene alone.

"Y'know, Nia is a ticking time bomb." Tess spoke quietly the moment the door had closed. "Has been since you took her on."

"I know, I know." Marlene nodded. "But she's got a cause to fight for." With a grunt, she squeezed her wound in an attempt to slow the bleeding even more. "And she's a damn good fighter."


	3. the rain keeps pouring down

A BRIGHT FLASH AWAKENED HER SUDDENLY. Wincing, she attempted to pry her heavy eyes open. She buried her face against the firm surface her head rested on. As her eyes slowly forced themselves open, she placed her hand against whatever her head rested on to push herself up. When her sight finally focused, her dark eyes widened. A still sleeping Joel rested in the spot she had just pushed herself away from.

Laughter from her right grabbed her attention. Ellie giggles away as she held out a small Polaroid photo in between her fingers. "Only got six more." She spoke as she tossed the camera back into her backpack. When she looked up to see Shania staring at her with wide yet sleepy eyes, she busted out laughing. "Morning, Sleeping Beauty. You and Prince Charming have a nice snooze?"

"You little bitch." Shania mumbled as she lunged at Ellie. Her arm stretched to pull the photo out of the girl's grip. The teenager laughed even louder as she continued to duck and weave the woman's grasp. "Just give me the fucking picture!"

"No!" Ellie laughed before stuffing it in her bra. "Get it now." Her arms crossed in victory. A smirk grew on her lips at the frustrated expression that grew on Shania's face.

"That's not fair." The brunette mumbled as she made her way over to the window. Rain poured down heavily from the night sky. Little building lights from the district twinkled in the distance. One thing she found nice about the apocalypse was the lack of light pollution. Looking up, she could see nearly every star that occupied space. "Your days are numbered, kid." She turned and jokingly pointed a threatening finger at the girl.

"You think he's ever gonna wake up?" Ellie nodded her head towards the man on the couch.

Almost on cue, the man jolted awake. For a moment, his tired eyes looked terrified before he remembered where he was and whose company he was in. Both of the women stared at him with hesitance. He straightened himself up on the couch, stretching his back with a few pops and cracks.

"You mumble in your sleep." Ellie broke the awkward silence. The woman across from her turned her back on the two, opting to watch the rain pour down on the broken city. "I hate bad dreams. Nia, you remember when I had that dream about the giant scorpions? Now that was a nightmare." Shania let out a faint chuckle, smiling at the memory of young Ellie crying to Marlene for hours on end about the giant scorpions that were going to eat her. Now, it seemed like a distant dream that she yearned to return to - simpler times, her mother would wistfully say.

Joel leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. A sigh escaped his lips as the palms of his hands rubbed the exhaustion from his eyes. A dull ache began to settle in his temples much to his dismay. The last thing he needed at this moment was a headache.

Pulling up a chair to the window, Ellie took a seat. Her youthful eyes stared out at the dark and rainy landscape ahead of her. She had never seen something look so beautiful yet so tragic. Joel pushed himself off of the couch to get a look out of the window. Before he could make it over there, Shania turned to move out of his way. Her feet carried her over to the couch; her body slammed onto the cushion. "Y'know, I've never been this close." Ellie spoke with a hint of sadness in her tone. "To the outside."

Joel remained silent as he approached the table next to the couch that held a small lantern. His gaze fell on the woman that lied on the couch. The back of her head was turned to him. He watched as her fingers gently traced the jagged scars that littered her hands and arms - stories of her courage and brutality. One scar in particular grabbed his full attention. It was a long and stark white one that looked fresher than the others. It rounded nearly her entire left forearm. "What's that one from?" He asked before he could think things through.

She pushed herself up on her elbows to turn and look at him. "Which one?" Shania asked as she sat up straight on the couch. "This one?" Her right index finger pointed at the one he had just been looking at. He nodded in silence. "A hunter hit me with his machete, got it lodged in there." The man in front of her couldn't help the wince that crossed his face. It sounded like one hell of a story to go through. "Yeah, hurt like a bitch. I wouldn't recommend it."

"What on Earth do the Fireflies want with you?" Joel asked the young girl in the chair at the window.

Before she could answer, the door opened. Tess was quick to greet them as she entered the small abandoned apartment. "Sorry it took so long." She shrugged her shoulders, closing the door behind her. "Soldiers fuckin' everywhere."

"How's Marlene?" Ellie quickly asked, her eyes wide with worry.

"She'll make it." Tess nodded to the girl with a minuscule smile. Her attention turned to her partner. "I saw the merchandise. It's a lot." Glancing back at the girl, she fully turned to Joel. "Wanna do this?"

With a hesitant nod, he agreed. His gut told him he was making the right decision but something in his mind told him to run for the hills. Turning his attention back to the woman on the couch, his thick eyebrows furrowed. She hadn't moved from her spot. Her eyes stared down at her arm as her fingers gently stroked a tiny faded scar on her inner right thumb. This scar looked older than the rest, more faded and closest to fully healing. Something told him that asking wouldn't get him anywhere. "C'mon," his voice pulled her out of her trance, "let's get a move on."

The group made their way out of the room and into a bedroom. The two partners spoke together as Tess scooted a bookshelf out of the way of a hole in the wall. The four pushed through her into a room with a makeshift elevator. When Joel finally pulled the generator to life, he boarded the elevator and pressed the down button. "Who's supposed to be meeting us at the drop off?" He asked Tess.

"Marlene said there's a group of Fireflies from another city to meet us." Her gaze turned to the young girl before turning to Shania. "The girl must be important." When the woman remained expressionless, Tess turned back to the girl. "What's the deal with you? You some big-wig's daughter or something?"

With a scoff, Ellie nodded. "Something like that." She responded. The elevator came to a halt and the group climbed off. "How long is this all gonna take?"

"If everything goes as planned," Tess spoke from behind Joel and Shania, "we should get you to them in a few hours. Ellie, once we get out there, I need you to follow our lead and stay close." Her protective tone did not go unmissed from Shania. It was something that nearly warmed her heart. Ellie owned a soft spot of Shania's heart, simply for the fact that she reminded her so much of Kya.

In front of them was a small hole in the wall, illuminated by a red emergency light. "Well, now's a bad time to tell you guys," Shania started with a shaky breath, "I'm a bit claustrophobic."

"If you travel with us," Joel spoke as he neared the hole in the wall, "you're gonna have to get over it."

"Right, thanks. Phobia's all cured, Doc." Rolling her eyes, she crouched behind him. As they entered the small makeshift tunnel, her vision began to blur. Her breathing became jagged and her hands began to sweat profusely. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she practically pushed herself out of the tunnel. "Fuck," she hissed under her breath as she pushed herself up off of the ground.

When they all made it out, Joel climbed up a ladder in front of them to check if the coast above was clear. Pushing the plywood to the side, he looked out over the edge. A few soldiers patrolled up ahead of them. Turning back to them, he kept his voice to a minimum. "Now hold up. There's a patrol up ahead." When the soldiers had passed, he waited a few extra seconds before giving them the all clear and making his way onto the ground.

After the group made their way up, his attention turned to Shania. "This is gonna be about stealth, alright? No bashing anyone's heads in."

Rolling her eyes, she raised her middle finger at the man. "You ever gonna let that go, old timer?"

"Excuse me?" His gaze turned into a sharp glare.

Before the two could start arguing, Tess stepped between them. "While we thank you for your help last time, let us handle this one." It was clear this wasn't the first time Tess had had to mediate situations. It made Shania furrow her eyebrows before shrugging her shoulders, mumbling remarks under her breath. "And you," she turned to her partner, "stop picking fights with her. We need her, remember?"

With a sigh, he nodded. Joel sent the Firefly another glare before they began their mission past the guards. This was gonna be a pain in the ass, and the rain wasn't helping. A soft hum could be heard from behind him. It sounded almost like 'Singin' in the Rain' by Gene Kelly. He stopped to turn to the woman. "And you can't hum when you're bein' stealthy."

"Sorry," she mumbled, "it's a habit."

"Well, drop it."

"Douchebag," she mumbled under her breath before continuing to follow them.


	4. one thing after another

HER MIND SWIRLED AND HER VISION BLURRED. Falling to her knees, she winced at the pain in her skull. Ringing filled her ears, each voice around her muffled beyond comprehension. Groaning in pain, she felt someone shove her over. This was it. This was how she was gonna go out after going through all hell. Shots rang out above her, but her vision refused to return for her to see if she was about to meet her maker.

"It's three weeks old!" She could hear as she shook her head. More arguing before her hearing began to finally come back to her. Slowly pushing herself off of the ground, she held her head in her hands in an attempt to stop the whirlwind her brain was in. "Tell them, Nia!" She could hear from her right side.

"You knew about this?" Tess snapped. Shania imagined her glare was quite sharp and hateful, but she couldn't quite know for sure. Groaning in pain, the woman gently nodded. "And you didn't think to tell us about it?"

"You didn't ask." Her hoarse voice finally managed to speak. Though she was a woman of few words, she managed to keep those few words as sarcastic as she could. If you didn't have anything funny to say, why say it at all is what her father had taught her. When she caught a glimpse of Tess' gun moving, she was quick to pull her own out. "You even think of shooting the girl, I'll blow your fuckin' head off before Billy Joel here can sing Piano Man."

"I swear that it's three weeks old!" Ellie exclaimed. The last thing she wanted was for everyone to turn on each other because of her. "Why would Marlene set you up?"

Tess let her gun fall to her side. Shania returned hers to its holster. Shaking her head, she held herself up and blinked a few times to keep the blurriness away. Joel shook his head with a scoff. "I ain't buyin' it." He mumbled before turning away. His heart dropped as car headlights came into view. Shit. "Tess, we gotta run. Run!" He shouted and took off running into the trench below.

Tess helped Ellie up before pulling Shania along with them into the trench. The moment they landed in the trench, the car above came to a halt. Soldiers could be heard climbing out and exclaiming expletives at the sight of their dead colleagues. The group slowly made their way through the trench, stopping every now and then to let a soldier pass without seeing them. "Stay away from those lights." Tess informed Ellie and Shania as they passed through a a smaller trench where spotlights could be seen scoping the area.

Rain poured down on them relentlessly. Long brown hair stuck to Shania's neck and shoulders as she followed them. There was nothing grosser than the feeling of wet hair on her neck or back, but she had no time to stop and pull her hair into a bun. Blinking frequently, she attempted to keep the water from blurring her vision more than it already was.

They crawled through an old sewer pipe that led into yet another trench. The moment they dropped in, a soldier could be heard ordering for the trenches to be checked. The group remained hidden behind a wall as they listened to the soldiers converse. "Joel," Tess started, "you take lead one way with the kid. Nia and I'll go the other way."

The man nodded before quietly making his way through the trench, hugging the wall and avoiding being seen. On the other side, both Tess and Shania did the same. Both women kept their guns drawn as they crouched their way through the muddy trench.

As they neared a caved in part of the trench, Tess continued as Shania halted in her tracks. A soldier was making his way slowly into the trench behind Tess. His footsteps were silent as he attempted to sneak up on the woman. With a shaky breath, Shania quickly made her way over, grabbing the soldier by the neck and holding him there. Tess spun around in time to see Shania plunge a knife into the man's neck. The moment she pulled out the knife, blood sprayed far. His hands clawed at his neck in a vain attempt to stop the bleeding. She let the body slip from her grip before she climbed on top of him and began stabbing him repeatedly. Tess' eyes widened as she watched the events. The woman in front of her had such a rage about her when she killed.

Her arms wrapped around Shania, pulling her off of the man. "Hey, he's dead." She hissed as she held the woman back. "You're wasting energy." Shania let her arms go limp, still clutching the knife in her scarred and shaky hands. She nodded as Tess let her grip loosen. When she turned to face Tess, the woman gave her a nod. "Thanks for that. I didn't even hear him come up."

"No problem." She shrugged before they continued their way through the trench. The group finally met back up in a broken down building.

"What the hell took you two so long?" Joel hissed as quietly as he could.

"Bruce Banner here saved my life." Tess pointed her thumb at the woman behind her.

Glancing behind Tess' shoulder, Joel could see the blood that had been sprayed onto Shania. Little dots of scarlet decorated her rosewood colored tank top, her collarbone, and her face. With a nod, he turned to lead them out of the building. The rubble from multiple collapsed houses created some sort of hill for the group to climb up.

As they made their way through the broken houses, a flashlight could be seen shining into one of the large open rooms they were about to enter. From across the trench, a soldier shined his light in an attempt to look for them. The group quickly made their way across and up a flight of stairs as the soldier turned to talk to his friend. They dropped down into another room that had a steel door. "We can get through here." Joel told the group as he approached the chain to pull the door open.

The door scraped open loudly. The moment it was open wide enough, Ellie scooted down under it. Both Tess and Shania quickly crouched down to crawl underneath it. "Help me hold it." Tess told the other woman. They both grabbed the bottom of the door and held it open for Joel to crawl through. The moment he was through, the two set the door down as gently as they could.

More soldiers could be seen up ahead with their flashlights on. The group shared a collective string of curses as they crouched behind an abandoned police car. They made their way over to another open and dilapidated building. At the other end of the room, there was a hole in the wall that led to another trench. Before they could begin to head towards it, a soldier entered the room. The group froze behind an old bureau chest as cover. Both Joel and Shania readied their weapons. Joel pulled out a brick, looking to Shania to see if she was on the same page. She nodded.

In a moment, Joel chucked the brick to the opposite side of the room. The soldier jumped before slowly making his way over to the noise. Rounding the chest, she slowly approached him from behind. Her arms wrapped around him before her knife slid across his throat. As his hands clawed at her arms, one hand grabbed one of his own pocket knives and began swinging at her. The knife stabbed into her thigh. With a grunt, she plunged the knife into his artery to make sure before letting the body drop. A small box of ammunition fell out of his riot gear. Pocketing it, she returned to the group with a limp.

Making sure the coast to the trench was clear, the group took off. Their feet collided with the muddy ground of the trench. The short trench led to a storm drain that they could crawl through. Making their way through, they crawled up into some building that was much more secure than any of the others. "Stay close." Tess reminded the group as they made their way up a flight of stairs.

When they reached a room they knew they were safe in, Shania let herself fall to her knees. "Nia!" Ellie exclaimed as she joined her friend's side. "What happened?"

"Guy got me in the thigh." She looked down at the blood that seeped out of the wound. A large red stain was growing on her jeans around the gash. "Prick." She mumbled under her breath before slinging her backpack off of her back. Her hands dug around before finding an old gray scarf that an old friend had given her from back in the day. Tying it above the gash, she managed to slowly push herself up.

"You gonna be able to make it?" Joel asked with a hesitant look in his eyes.

"I've been through worse."

"Like?" Tess chuckled.

"Childbirth." Shania slung her backpack over her shoulders and joined the group once more. "Twice."

Tess let out a low whistle. "Once was enough for me."

Shania's eyebrows furrowed deeply. "You had a kid?"

The woman next to her shrugged her shoulders. "I was young and stupid, couldn't take care of him. I figured someone else would come along and do a better job than I could."

"You gave him up for adoption?"

Tess nodded with a sad gaze in her eyes. "I hope he's doin' alright."

Placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, Shania offered her a smile. "I'm sure he's kickin' ass and takin' names, just like his mother."


	5. heart to heart

HER HAND GRIPPED HER GUN TIGHTLY. It almost hurt her hands to grip the weapon so tight. Despite the ache that began to settle in her bones, her hands were shaky - shakier than she had ever seen them. Her gaze turned to the man to her right who remained silent and vigilant. After they had narrowly avoided death at the hands of soldiers, the group had quickly devolved into an argument. The Fireflies were looking for a cure and Ellie was the key. But what wracked Shania's mind was the small interaction Tess had with Joel before the group continued their adventure. The look in his eyes especially haunted her; mostly because she had the same look at the start. Hell, she supposed she might still have it. It was the look of a parent - specifically a parent that had known loss.

Another moment of silence passed between the two before Shania opened her mouth. "Boy or girl?"

His eyebrows furrowed as he turned to face her. "Excuse me?"

"I know that look." The clicking below them elicited a flinch from both. They remained as quiet as possible as they waited for Tess and Ellie to catch up. "Losing a kid is-"

"I think you've said about enough." He cut her off with a glare. Behind the glare lied something deeper and much sadder. His right hand curled into a tight fist before loosening.

"I lost my son at the start of this. It was probably two years into it all." Her left hand picked at a hangnail on her right thumb. Through time, it had gotten easier for her to talk about it. Marlene, holding a psychology degree, would often have her recall the day, just to make it easier on her. She'd be damned if the woman wasn't right. "Bunch of clickers got him when we were holed up in an apartment complex. By the time I got through them all, they'd already eaten half of him." Flashes of his mutilated corpse raced through her mind. Her sobs at the time could've been heard miles around as she mourned her sweet son.

Joel watched the woman stare down at the group of clickers. Her expression held nothing, not even sorrow. The frown on her lips had deepened as did the bags under her eyes. It looked like she hadn't slept more than a couple hours in the past week. He supposed everyone sort of looked like that these days. Part of him wanted to say something, maybe even an 'I'm sorry', but nothing came out. He simply nodded before turning his attention back to the clickers below.

"It gets easier to talk about it." She spoke with a small smile. "But that pain never goes away."

Both Tess and Ellie entered from the door behind the two. "You two havin' a heart to heart?" Tess chuckled as she crouched between the two.

"Yeah, he's a real talker, this one." Shania playfully nudged the woman with her elbow.

"I can hardly ever get 'im to shut up." Tess smiled and slapped Joel's arm. Ellie could be heard stifling a chuckle behind the adults. "So, you guys planning on taking out those clickers down there?"

With a playful smile, Shania shrugged. "Figured we could send the kid in."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Ellie shook her head as she looked between the two women. Both of them chuckled before Shania jokingly punched Ellie's arm. "Ha ha. You're so funny."

"Ready, cowboy?" Tess asked Joel, who simply nodded.

Both him and Shania jumped off of the broken floor to the floor below. They switched their flashlights off and began crawling towards the edge of the wall in front of them. Joel picked up a metal pipe on the ground and handed to Shania. A few feet in front of the wall was a still runner. It twitched and groaned every once in a while but remained in the same spot. Joel began making his way over to the runner before grabbing it around the neck and strangling it.

Shania turned to slowly make her way to the other side of the large and open room. Ahead of her, a runner managed to shuffle its way into one of the offices. As she began to crawl towards it, she halted in her tracks when a clicker stalked its way across the hallway. Her shaky hands gripped the pipe tightly as the clicker made its way into the open area across from her. She pressed herself into the shadowy wall to her right as the runner stumbled its way out of the office. Mentally cursing, she crawled over to a desk to hide behind it.

In a few moments, she caught sight of another runner stumbling towards the large office. The moment it disappeared into the door, she followed behind. She silently set the pipe down on the floor and pulled out her hunting knife before grabbing the runner and stabbing it in the throat. She made her way out to see Joel strangling a runner in the open area to her left. All that was left was the clicker that patrolled the area.

The two made eye contact through a broken window. She held up a bottle and nodded her head towards the clicker. Pulling out his gun, he readied herself. Taking a deep breath, he neared the doorway directly next to where the clicker stood. The bottle glided over the clicker and shattered against the ground to its right. The creature screeched before making its way towards the sound. He aimed his gun at the clicker before opening fire. One bullet hit its shoulder, sending it into a frenzy. It charged towards him as he continued firing at its grotesque head. It had taken three bullets and was still charging like it was nothing. His entire life flashed before his eyes before a metal pipe slammed into its head. The clicker fell and began convulsing as Shania began repeatedly slamming the pipe against its deformed head. Pieces of mushroom and gore flew into the air.

Her breaths came out as heavy pants. She held the pipe at her side as she looked up at Joel. "He didn't get you, right?"

He shook his head. His eyes darted between the dead clicker and the woman standing over it. Her eyes remained expressionless, but the rest of her face gave it all away. Her frown was deep, her nostrils flared, and her eyebrows furrowed together. She had been just as scared as he was in that moment, but she still saved his ass. "Thanks." He pulled her out of her trance, giving her a small nod of thanks. She nodded back before turning her flashlight on. "C'mon down." He called to the ladies that were still up on the platform.

When they jumped down to see the corpses, Tess let out a low whistle. "You two are a helluva team." Her gaze turned to the clicker that Shania still stood over. "Nia, you good?"

The woman remained silent as she crouched down next to the creature. She took in its disgusting and bloody head and its wrinkled and torn skin. 'That's for you, Petey,' she thought to herself with a small smile. Pushing herself up, she joined the group. "All good." She told Tess before joining Ellie's side.

The group continued to make their way through the building. As they made their way down into a collapsed part of the building, Tess grabbed Joel's arm to stop him. "Hey, so I was thinking," she spoke sort of quietly as Ellie and Shania attempted to scope out the area ahead, "after we get back, maybe we could settle down."

The man let out a scoff. "You wanna settle down?"

"You're the one always talking about laying low."

"And you're the one who always brushes me off."

"Well," Tess shrugged her shoulders, letting go of his arm, "I won't brush it off this time."

"Yeah," Joel scoffed again, "I'll believe it when I see it."

They rejoined the ladies ahead with a new air that felt tense. Ellie sent Shania a curious look to which Shania simply shrugged her shoulders. Making their way through another hallway, the floor ahead was collapsed into what looked like a tunnel. Tess was the first to jump down into the tunnel. "Take a look at this." She spoke as they neared a corpse. A green band was wrapped around the man's left bicep.

Shania crouched down next to the body. Her fingers reached out to gently close the man's dead eyes. "That's Malcolm. His younger sister just had a baby." She pushed herself up, frowning. Every day, she had to mourn for someone and their family. The Fireflies were a dying breed and it wouldn't be long for her and her own to be next on the chopping block.

"Well, it looks like the Fireflies aren't doing too well in here or out there." Joel remarked as he grabbed the molotov that was next to the corpse.

Shania sent a glare at the man as he stood up. "They're people with families, y'know." She snapped.

"And they decided to get involved in some fairy tale gang."

"Well, some of us have to do something with our lives." Shania took a step closer. Her glare at him was sharp and almost hateful. "Not all of us can wallow in our losses."

"Well, some of us would actually like to live than die for some bullshit cause they think is courageous."

Shania slammed her fist into his face before tackling him to the ground. Before the two could even fight, Tess pulled the woman off and held her hand out to stop Joel. "Both of you stop it! We just need to get to the Capitol building and we part ways. Got it? Just a few more hours."

"Fuck you!" Shania shouted at the man. "Just because you're so fucking miserable doesn't mean the rest of us have to be." She pushed herself out of Tess' grip before storming off.

Joel wiped away the small trail of blood that trickled out of his nose. There'd be a hell of a bruise on him by the morning. Tess approached him with an accusatory look. "We can't fucking keep her around."

"Didn't she just save your life a half an hour ago?" The woman crossed her arms over her chest. One of her dark eyebrows perked up as she rolled her eyes. "Stop being an asshole about the Fireflies." Pulling out a small rag from her pack, she dabbed the cloth at his nose. "How's it feel?"

"She packs a hell of a punch."

She chuckled and nodded. "You deserved it." Pulling back, she stuffed the rag back into her pack. "C'mon, can't let her get too far with our cargo."

When the two caught up with Shania and Ellie, the group stopped to gather their bearings. Joel approached Shania, who watched him with a cautious eye and a tightened fist. "Look, when we get to that Capitol building, I don't want to ever see your fuckin' face again."

She shrugged her shoulders and crossed her arms over her chest. "Your loss. It's a nice face to look at."


	6. when the time comes

SHE KNEW SHE WAS IN THE WRONG. She shouldn't have brought it up. She shouldn't have opened her big mouth about anything. It really was her luck that she'd be stuck with the guy she'd just punched a mere hour earlier. With a soft sigh, she turns to face him inside the small makeshift tunnel they were stuck in. "Any plans?"

"Not at the moment."

"Oh, I meant after this. Like, catch a movie, maybe?"

"Just shut up and let me think." Joel mumbled, rolling his eyes.

Holding her hands up in mock surrender, she rested her back against what she assumed was a broken shelf. Her fingers began running along the scars on her arm. She let her eyes fall shut as she attempted to control her breathing. She hated this. Her hands grew shaky and her breathing became shallow.

A few moments of silence passed before Joel tapped her foot. Looking up, she froze when she noticed a small hole in the wall and just beyond it, a clicker shuffled about. Mentally cursing, she pulled out her hunting knife. On her hands and knees, she crawled as close as she could to the entrance without alerting the creature.

Positioning herself on her back, she quickly kicked her leg, knocking the clicker onto the ground. Before it could alert the others, she slammed her knife into its head repeatedly. When it finally stopped twitching, she pulled her knife out of its carcass and looked back at Joel. "Me, two. You, zero." She whispered before making her way out into the hallway. Two more clickers could be heard roaming the floor. One patrolled the end of the hallway while the other circled the large room in front of them. "I'll get this one, you get that one." He nodded as he made his way into the large room.

He stopped as soon as the clicker began making its way in his direction. His breath caught in his throat. Mentally, he prayed that it would turn and walk away. Almost as if his prayers had been answered, the clicker turned to make its way around the large model ship in the middle of the room. He let out a breath of relief.

A grunt from the other side of the hall grabbed his attention. "Shit." He hissed under his breath and he began crawling in the same path the clicker had gone through. When he rounded the corner of the model ship, the clicker was nowhere in sight. "Fuck."

Shania ripped the knife out of the clicker's throat. With a faint chuckle of victory, she pushed herself off of the ground. A shuffle grabbed her attention. "Hey-" She froze when a clicker screeched at her from directly in front of her. It tackled her to the ground. Its gaping jaws snapped at her in a desperate attempt to bite into her. No, not like this. With all of her might, she held it back but her energy was quickly dwindling. "Joel!" She shouted as a tear slipped out of her eye. The clicker's strength began overpowering her as it grew closer to her neck.

A brick slammed into the clicker, throwing it off of the woman. Her hand reached out to grab her knife but the man grabbed it first before stabbing it into the clicker's head, holding it there until it ceased to twitch. Shania let out a shaky breath as she pushed herself away from the creature. Her back hit the wall as she stared at it's lifeless corpse. "Were you bit?" He asked her as he pulled the knife out. His question was met with silence, which scared him the most. "Shania, were you bit?"

Her wide and terrified eyes looked up at him. He was speechless at the tears that threatened to spill down her face. Roughly wiping them away, she shook her head. "No, no. I don't... I don't think so."

He crouched next to her and began examining her arms, her legs, and her neck. Nearly every inch of her was covered in dried blood or mud, but none of it looked fresh. "You're all good." Pushing himself up, he held a hand out to pull her up on her feet. "Looks like our scores are even now."

A small smile made its way onto her face. "I still have one up on you."

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do." She laughed as she wiped away any remnants of her tears. "The one in that old building and then just two here. That makes my score three."

Rolling his eyes, he turned towards the stairs in front of them. He held the hunting knife out to the woman. "I guess I'll give you that one." He mumbled before making his way up the stairs. From behind him, Shania had to force away the smile that refused to leave her face. It had been so long since she had genuinely smiled that it almost hurt her face to keep it up.

Making their way up the stairs, loud grunts grab their attention. They curse under their breaths as they grip their weapons tightly. When they round the corner into the hallway, they see a runner slamming itself against one of the doors. Tess yells out from inside the room. Shania nods towards it before backing up against the wall at the very end of the hallway. "Hey!" Shania shouts, grabbing the attention of the runner. It screams before charging at the two. "Don't swing, don't swing." She tells Joel as the creature nears them. "Swing!" She exclaims.

Joel swings the metal pipe, slamming it against the runner's head. Bits of brain matter fly everywhere as the corpse collapses to the ground with a few twitches. "Nice swingin', Tex." Shania chuckles as they make their way down the hallway.

When they hear Tess shout out, Joel kicks the door in. A runner and her wrestle before she shoves it back and slams her chunk of wood into it. Taking a deep breath, she looked over at the two that had just entered. "Tess?" Joel called out.

"I'm fine." Before anymore words could be shared, Ellie's shouts propelled them into the room. "The kid!"

They all ran in with their weapons ready. Shania slammed her knife into the runner that wrestled with Ellie. Three more runners charged in at the group. While Joel and Tess wrestled with runners, Shania shoved Ellie behind her. The runner in front of her growled and snarled at her before screeching and charging. She swung her knife at it but the creature dodged it and slammed her to the ground. "Fuck." She hissed as she wrestled with it. Her right hand reached out, feeling the floor for her weapon.

Ellie kicked the knife towards the woman, watching as she slammed the knife into its neck. Blood spilled down on her neck and chest as she pushed the body to the ground next to her. With a grunt, she pushed herself off of the ground. "Can we get out of this fucking museum?" She huffed as she leaned over, her hands on her knees.

Tess nodded in agreement as she led the group towards a broken window. The window led to a balcony that connected with the roof. They made their way outside. A sigh of relief passed through the group when the top of the Capitol building became visible. "Almost there." Tess mumbled, rubbing her face.

Joel began looking around the roof for something to get them across. Shania leaned against the railing of the balcony with Ellie on her left. "Thanks for the help back there." She told the young girl. "You saved my life, kid."

The teenager shrugged with a smug smile. "All in a day's work."

Rolling her eyes, she playfully shoved Ellie. "Alright, don't get a big head about it."

Tess leaned against the railing with an exhausted look on her face. Shania's eyebrows furrowed as she watched the woman. "All good, Tess?" She asked quietly, glancing back to see Joel still searching the roof for supplies. The woman looked up at her with wide eyes. She nodded with no words before turning her gaze back to the Capitol building. With a small smile, Shania returned her attention to Ellie. "Got any big plans when we get back home?"

"Tell Kya about how I saved your ass." She giggled.

Shania groaned as she rolled her eyes. Nothing could stop the smile that forced its way onto her lips as she shared a laugh with the teen. Before they could share anymore words, Joel returned to the group with a long board to place on top of the railing, reaching the roof of the building across from them. "Alright," he turned to Ellie, "now be careful when you-"

"Pssh." Ellie rolled her eyes before climbing up and crossing the board with ease.

Shania let out a chuckle as Joel scoffed. His gaze turned to her with a look of annoyance and disbelief. "C'mon, she's a teenager." Patting him on the shoulder, she climbed up and crossed the board.

Joel made his way over to the roof. He looked down to see Ellie staring up at the building with wide eyes. "Is it everything you hoped for?"

"Jury's still out." She crossed her arms over her chest. "But you can't deny that view."

Shania slung her arm around Ellie's shoulders. "The building may be pretty but the people who worked there were assholes."

Ellie looked over at Joel. "That true?"

He nodded his head. "She's right about that one." Turning his attention to Shania, he let out a soft chuckle. "You remember Harold Warren?"

"Oh, my fucking God." Shania busted out laughing. "That guy was a total tool. His whole plan to take away funding from the libraries? Total douchebag move. Fuck that guy. I hope that guy became a clicker or something."

Joel let out a laugh as he nodded along. Tess joined the group. "Alright, let's go." She motioned towards the ladder in front of her. "C'mon, this way." Ellie is the first one to go down the ladder before Shania follows after. Tess turns her attention to Joel. "Hey! Let's pick it up." His gaze turns up to her as his smile dropped. His eyes bore through her with disbelief. Her features softened as he neared the ladder. "Look, we're almost done. Stay focused."

"Yes, ma'am." He huffed before following her down the ladder.

The group made their way through an alleyway around a building. They walked down the road towards the Capitol building. The caved in part of the road was completely flooded with mossy green water. "Uh... Just so it's out there," Ellie spoke up as they neared the water, "I can't swim."

"Look, it's shallow on the right so just follow behind me." Tess spoke as she led the group through.

Both Joel and Shania made their way through the water at each other's sides. "Something's off." She mumbled to the man. "It's the Fireflies, they should have some sort of lookout." There was absolutely no sign of life around the large building. "This isn't like them."

He shook his head. "They're probably just laying low."

"I'm sorry, who's the Firefly here? Oh, not you." Shania rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest. They made their way up the stairs. "I'm serious, Joel."

"Well, we're about to find out." He told her before opening the door to the building.

Tess let out a loud string of curses as they walked in. Bodies littered the ground floor. Both Joel and Shania let out soft sighs. Shania made her way over to the wall by the door and took a seat on the floor. Ellie took a seat next to her. "I don't think we're gettin' home anytime soon, kid." The girl nodded but remained silent as the two in front of them argued.

Ellie watched with furrowed eyebrows. Tess' behavior looked all too familiar to her. It reminded her of Riley. A frown formed on her lips as she watched Tess pull herself back from Joel. "Holy shit." She pushed herself off of the floor. "She's infected."

Shania's eyes widened as she stood up. "Show me." Joel snapped at the woman. Tess pulled her collar back to reveal a deep bite wound. He let out a deep breath. As they continued to argue, a truck pulled up outside. "Fuck." He hissed.

"You have to get them to Tommy's. He and Nia can help you get her to the Fireflies-"

"That is your crusade!" Joel shook his head.

"Joel," Tess practically begged with her arms outstretched, "there has to be enough here that you feel some sort of obligation to me. So, get them to Tommy's." She turned towards the large truck full of soldiers outside. "I'll hold them off while you get out."

"We are not leaving-"

"I will not turn into one of those things!" Tess snapped with tears brimming her eyes. "Please, do this for me."

Joel gently shook his head. "Ellie, let's get a move on."

"I'm sorry." Ellie spoke with her small voice. "I didn't mean for this to happen."

"Ellie, move!" Joel snapped as he slowly backed up.

Shania approached the woman with a sad smile. "I wish we had known each other longer."

"Take care of them. Don't let him become more bitter." Tess quickly wiped a tear away before gently hitting Shania's arm. "Now, go."

She turned and joined Joel and Ellie past the double doors at the back of the room. They can hear the soldiers slamming the front door open. Gunfire rings out as they make their way up the stairs. Tess screams in pain before silence fills the building. When they near the balcony railing, Shania's eyes widen at the sight of Tess' corpse. Her jaw clenches as they make their way past and into another room. "Fuck this shit." She mumbles.

"I hate life." Ellie mumbles.

"Join the club, kid."


	7. an old friend and a few favors

SHE STRETCHED HER BACK, relishing in the satisfying pops and cracks it let out. Her newly clean hand reached up to scratch the corner of her nose. "Y'know," she started with a huff, "I'm starting to think that you have no idea what you're doing." A yawn racked through her body, finishing out her stretch. The man in front of her remained silent. The teenage girl to her right hid an amused smile.

The group made their way through a field towards the woods. The sun peaked over the trees and illuminated the forest with a golden hue. The beams reflected off of a small creek in the middle of it all. "Whoa," Ellie whispers as she takes the scenery in, "it's so beautiful."

Shania smiles at the young girl's youthful innocence. At her feet, a small frog hops along. She crouches and gently picks up the small animal. Her smile widens as she opens her hand slightly for Ellie to see. "Frogs are my favorite." Ellie's face contorts into confusion as she looks up at the older woman. "They're just so cute and tiny and kind of gross." She set the frog back onto the ground and watched it hop away. Wiping off the residue that she assumed had to have been the frog's piss onto the bottom of her pant legs, she stood and joined the two making their way across the creek.

At the end of a small trail, there was a gate to an old radio tower. "Shit, it's locked." Joel mumbles as his fingers fumble with the padlock.

"Maybe we could climb over?" Ellie suggests.

"No, that razor wire'll cut us up too bad." He responds as he motions towards the wire on top of the fence. "We'll have to find a way around." The two ladies follow him around the fence towards a small generator building.

"Whoa!" Ellie giggles, grabbing their attention. She smiles in wonder as fireflies flutter around her, twinkling their lights. "Fireflies. I mean, real ones."

"Yeah, I see 'em." Joel spoke before earning a hit to the bicep by the woman next to him. Her eyes glare at him before rolling. "Kids used to catch 'em for fun back before this." He attempted to make a little more of a heartfelt conversation. Shania gave him a small but thankful smile before turning her attention back to the teenager.

"That's so cool." She chuckled as the fireflies fluttered off through the woods. "Sorry," she cleared her throat before joining the adults, "that was just really cool."

Shania smiled as she gently tussled the girl's auburn hair. They followed the man towards the tiny building and watched him climb up it. "Looks like we could use something to walk across to that building." The woman makes her way around the building to see a large wooden board leaning against the fence. Her hands wrap around the heavy board and carries it over to Joel. "C'mon up here."

She follows the teenager onto the air conditioning unit and helps lift her onto the roof of the building. The three carefully cross the board onto the roof of the building across from them. Smoke rises in the distance from the city. "That you, Bill?" Joel mumbles under his breath.

Shania's eyebrows furrow at the name. "Bill Woodrow?"

Joel turns to her with wide eyes. "You know Bill?"

With a laugh, Shania nods. Without elaborating, she hops off the roof onto the ground below. "Have you even been here before?" Ellie asks as she follows Shania off the roof. "I mean, where would you even meet this guy?"

"I'd meet him... places. Look, I may have never been here, but I know he lives here."

Holding up her hand, Shania waves him off. "I got us; don't worry." She lets out a chuckle as memories of Bill fill her mind. The gun he held to her head for nearly two hours, the names he called her as they argued for damn near two days straight all filled her mind with bittersweet memories.

Making their way down the small hill, they stop at the top when they hear the faint screeching of a couple clickers. Shania grabs a brick from the ground while Joel pulls out a molotov. She launches the bottle and flinches as it shatters against the staircase. Both clickers screech before running towards the sound. Joel chucks the molotov at them and watches as they both writhe in pain before collapsing to the ground with a twitch.

"Jesus." Ellie groans in disgust at the burnt bodies.

They make their way down towards the tall building in front of them. "I'm gonna check this place out for supplies." Joel tells them. "Ellie," the girl looks up with wide eyes, "keep watch."

"How am I supposed to keep watch if you don't give me a weapon?" The girl snaps as her arms cross over her chest.

"Gotcha there, old man." Shania chuckles as she enters the building.

"Yell." Joel responded before following after Shania.

Rubbing her face, she searched through a desk in one of the offices. The desk held a bottle of vodka and a pair of scissors. When the man entered the office, she glanced up before turning her attention back to the desks. "You need to be nicer to her." She spoke without looking at him.

"Excuse me?" Joel responded as he searched a desk across the room.

"I'm serious." Shania pushed herself up to look at him. "She's a kid, Joel. She's trying to make the best out of a shitty situation and you constantly shutting her down isn't helping." Her tan and scarred arms crossed over her chest as her gaze bored through him from across the room. "Just... Please be nicer to her. You don't have to be besties who paint each other's nails and shit, but at least give her a chance."

Joel remained silent as he continued to look through the desks. Part of him knew that the woman was right. He had been standoffish to the young girl, but something in him was still hurt over Tess. Over a decade of partnership and maybe the possibility of something more after this mission all stolen from him a couple of days before. He had every right to be bitter about this mission.

"I'm sorry about Tess." Shania broke the silence again. The man stopped his movements, refusing to meet the gaze of the woman now in front of him. "I know you don't need to hear it, but she was a good woman-"

"No, she wasn't." Joel snapped as he pushed himself away from the desk. "Neither of us were. We still aren't. Just 'cause we die don't make us saints."

Rolling her eyes, Shania scoffed. "Alright, chill out, Kurt Cobain." Taking a seat on the desk next to him, she looked over everything he had pulled out of the desks. "Look, my message is still the same. She didn't deserve to die like that."

"Like what?"

"Like a fucking dog." Shania and Joel held a stare-off. Her words were harsh but he had ultimately coaxed it out of her. Her shaky hands curled into tight fists. Tiny white scars littered her knuckles. As her eyes looked over his weathered face, her body loosened and her hands let go of their tension. "I shouldn't have said that. I just..." She trailed off as her eyes dropped to his own hands that curled into fists. "I'm sorry. That's all I wanted to say."

"Well, I don't need your sympathy."

With a scoff, Shania pushed herself off of the desk and rolled her eyes. "You are so fucking infuriating, you know that? I mean, is it really that fucking hard to open up to someone for fucking once? I'm trying to be an actual person with actual fucking feelings and you just shut us out at every opportunity." As she rants and raves, neither adult notices the clicker making its way up the stairs. "I mean, do you even realize how irritating you are-"

She stops short when her eye catches the clicker. It screeches and runs at her. Grabbing the computer on the desk, Joel slams it into its head. He bashes it in until the clicker ceases twitching. Pushing himself off of the floor, he turns to look at the woman who has her knife out and ready. "You were saying?"

Her eyes turn to a glare as she puts her knife back in the holster. "You're still annoying." Stepping over the battered corpse, she leaves the room and returns to Ellie. When she exits the building, she furrows her eyebrows as she watches the girl blow out air. "What're you doing?"

The girl blows before turning to the woman. "Learning how to whistle."

"You don't know how to whistle?" Joel asks as he exits the building behind Shania.

"Does it sound like I know how to whistle?" Ellie retorts before going back to blowing out air.

Letting out a chuckle, Shania gently punches Joel's arm. "She got you there, old man."


	8. reunions are messy

HER GRIP ON HER GUN IS SHAKY BUT AIRTIGHT. Her breath comes out in short pants as she holds her ground next to the fridge. Her eyes darted between the infected that clawed their way through the fence and the body that swung upside down behind her. 'Protect her at all costs,' she told herself. As a runner charged at her, she lined the sight before pulling the trigger. The corpse folded and collapsed. Another runner charged from her left. She pulled the trigger, hitting it in the shoulder and forcing it to stumble back. This gave her time to line her shot up before putting it down.

From behind her, Joel did his best to help the ladies. He hadn't realized just how difficult it was to aim upside down. As Shania focused on two runners to her left, he began firing at the clicker that staggered towards her. The fridge tipped over, throwing Ellie off and yanking Joel even higher in the air. Shania quickly helped the young girl up off the ground before turning her focus back to the infected that made their way through the broken fence.

Shania took down a couple runners that charged towards Ellie while Joel took care of the clickers. The man let out a grunt as the rope finally gave way and dropped him to the ground. As Shania wrestles with a runner, another quickly jumps on top of Joel in an attempt to bite into him. The moment Shania slams her hunting knife into the runner, she turns to see a man in a gas mask slam his machete into the runner on top of Joel. A chuckle escapes her lips.

He helps Joel back up before leading them out of the building. Infected crawl over a small barricade, forcing them to turn and dart down an alley. They enter a building and freeze when a clicker enters the opposite door. Shania chucks a bottle at it to stun it before Joel guns it down. "Let's get out of here!" The man in the mask exclaims as he leads them out through another alley. He flings a door open and rushes them in, locking the door behind.

They all stop to take a breath. The man pulls his mask off and sets it on the bar. "Thanks for that." Ellie speaks through her deep breaths. "I'm Ellie." She holds her hand out to shake his. He grabs her arm and attaches a handcuff to it before dragging her towards a pipe and handcuffing her to it. All three argue with Bill before he turns his gun on the two adults. He screams for them to get on their knees as he searches them for any bites or wounds.

"You got any bites? Anything sprouting?" He snaps as he turns his attention to Shania.

"No, Bill. We're fine." She rolls her eyes.

Ellie pulls the pipe from the wall and slams it into Bill's arm. Shania is quick to stand up and pull the pipe from the girl's grip. "What the fuck is your problem?" Bill shouts as he moves to face the girl. Shania steps in between the two, glaring at Bill. "Jesus fuckin' Christ. What the fuck are you two doin' here?"

"We're here because you owe Joel some favors." Ellie exclaims from behind Shania, earning a glare from the woman.

Bill scoffs as he turns to Joel. "Oh, I owe Joel some favors? You come to my town, set off all my traps, and now I owe Joel some favors." He shakes his head before rubbing his face. "What do you need?"

"We need a car."

"Oh, my fuckin' God." Bill shook his head in disbelief. "Even if I did owe you somethin' - which I don't - it wouldn't be worth that."

"Then mine are." Shania spoke up, grabbing the man's attention. "C'mon, Bill, I saved your ass plenty o' times while I was here."

He shook his head again before rubbing his face in annoyance. "Fine." His voice is tired and strained. "There's a car stuck in the school down the road that I've been eyeing. But I guess I could lend it to you both out of the kindness of my fuckin' heart." He grabbed his machete and his mask before leading them through the bar. "Grab whatever supplies you can find before we get out of here."

Shania and Joel share a look. "He's pissier than I remember." Shania mumbles to the man, earning a chuckle.

"I heard that!" Bill called from the other side of the room.

Joel looked over the chessboard that occupied one of the booths. "You know how to play this game?" Ellie asked as she joined his side. Shania glanced over his side, reaching out to move one of the pieces.

"Hey, Bobby Fisher, don't touch that fuckin' board!" Bill shouted at her.

"Bobby who?" Ellie asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"Just forget about it." Joel shook his head, finishing the conversation.

Joining Bill's side, they leave the bar, closing the door behind them. They follow him up the set of stairs and out of the building and onto the street. "Why don't you just fix one of these cars?" Ellie asks, motioning towards all of the abandoned cars on the street. Shania and Joel share a look before rolling their eyes at the rant Bill began to go on about what awful condition all of the other cars were in. "Alright, dude, chill out." Ellie mumbled under her breath.

Before they could move, a group of runners charge from behind the set of cars. While Bill takes care of a runner with his machete, Shania guns down the clicker while Joel takes down a runner with a metal pipe. "Alright, let's get out of here." Bill huffs as he leads them to the gate of a church. He pulls out a keyring before unlocking the gate, letting them in, and quickly locking it back up.

"That gonna hold them off?" Joel asked with hesitance in his voice.

"Well, I locked it." Bill responded. "They don't have a key."

Rolling her eyes, she followed him up the small hill of the church. "Where the hell is this bunker?"

"It's down here in the cellar." Bill answered as he flung the cellar door open. The four made their way down as Bill lectured Ellie and warned her not to touch anything. He quickly turned towards Joel and told him to close the door behind them. "Let's gear up."

Ellie made a quick b-line for the table of weapons before being stopped by Joel. "What? I need a gun." She argued. "Joel, I can handle myself." Joel refused to budge on the issue, telling her to stay put. "Fine, I'll just wait around for you guys to get me killed. Nia, I mean, c'mon!"

Shania shrugged her shoulders. "Sorry, kid. Me and the big guy may disagree on a lot o' things, but not on this. Maybe when we get back home, we'll talk to Marlene about it, yeah?" The girl huffed in irritation before turning her attention to the stack of books and magazines.

Joel did as told before following Bill over to a table full of weapons, Shania close behind. "Well, this goes on record as the worst fuckin' job you've ever taken. And you," his finger pointed up at Shania, "well, you're just stupid in general."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Bill." She chuckled as she leaned against the table next to Joel.

"How in the hell is Tess okay with this suicide mission?" Bill pushed himself up and rounded the two to get to the table. "And why the hell are you with a fuckin' Firefly anyway?"

"It was Tess' idea." Joel responded with a shrug. "And Nia here refuses to leave." He grunted when the woman next to him punched his shoulder.

"Well," Bill started as he loaded the gun with ammunition, "then the broad's not as smart as I thought she was." Shania could see the sorrow that took over Joel's features. In a moment of clarity, she reached out and grabbed his hand to squeeze comfortingly. His eyes moved from their hands up to her face. She offered a small smile in some sort of attempt to take his mind off of things. He nodded, thanking her in his own way. "Seriously, you gotta take that kid back to where ya found her. And drop Nia off along with her." Bill spoke from their left.

Shania raised her middle finger at the man with a glare in her eyes. "That can't happen, asswipe."

"Then find your own damn ways." Bill snapped as he set the gun down on the table. "Let me tell you a story." His gaze dropped down to Joel. "Once upon a time I had somebody that I cared about. It was a partner, somebody I had to look after. And in this world, that sort of shit is good for one thing - gettin' ya killed. So, y'know what I did?"

"Become an angry hermit that hates everything that breathes?" Shania smiled bitterly at the older man.

"I wisened the fuck up." Bill shot a glare at the woman. "And I realized it's gotta be just me."

"Bill, it ain't..." Joel trailed off as he glanced between Ellie and Shania, "it ain't like that."

"Bullshit, it is just like that." Bill rolled his eyes as his gaze turned down to see their hands still intertwined. "You think I don't notice you two lookin' at each other and holdin' hands?" Their hands ripped away, mentally cursing themselves for being so stupid. Before anyone could say anything, Bill's voice cut them off. "Hey!" He shouted, eliciting a flinch from Joel. "What'd I say to you when we walked down the steps?" All eyes turned to face Ellie who messed with a stack of magazines. "What'd I say?"

"I'm just... fixing your stupid pile!" Ellie shouted back before raising her middle finger at the man.

"Don't touch!" Bill rolled his eyes before turning back to the two adults next to him. "You two keep babysitting long enough and eventually it's gonna blow up in your faces."

"Bill." Joel spoke up with exhaustion and annoyance. "Can we please just get on with it?"

Bill finished loading one of the shotguns before tossing it into Joel's grip. "Here. Let's get on with it." He attempted to mock Joel's voice, eliciting a giggle from Shania.

Joel turned to look at Shania, who raised her hands in mock surrender. "What? It was a good impression."

"Let's just get this show on the road."


	9. frank's last farewell

SHE STARED UP AT THE HANGING BODY WITH WIDE EYES. Neither of the men had noticed as they argued. Her breathing turned ragged as she stepped closer towards it. "Bill," her voice was quiet, unheard over the shouting, "Bill." The man turned, finally gazing up at the corpse. "Is that Frank?"

"Who's Frank?" Joel asked with a sharp tone still in his voice. Shania turned to give him a look, telling him to calm down.

"He was my partner." Bill responded with a somber tone. He approaches the body and cuts it down. It falls to the floor with a light thud. "He was the only one who'd wear a shirt that stupid." His eyes look over the skeletal corpse with his eyes low and his shoulders slumped. Shania wants to comfort him, but that's not the type of guy Bill is and she knows it. Instead, she crouches next to the body and lets out a small chuckle. "What's so funny?" Bill snaps.

"I was just thinking about when he found that rack of Hawaiian shirts in that general store. It was, like, the only thing that was left by looters and he took the whole damn supply."

Bill let out a soft laugh as he nodded. "He was so fuckin' excited about those ugly fuckin' shirts." His laughter turned to a sad silence. He had forgotten just how much he had missed Frank. Most times, he attempted to tune it out or distract himself, but now it was at his face and forcing him to relish in all of those feelings he had closed himself off to. His face contorted to a glare as he forced those feelings away. "Fuck 'im."

"Nia, come up here!" Ellie called from upstairs.

Shania pushed herself off of the floor. Approaching Bill, she placed a soft hand on his shoulder, which he simply shrugged off. "I know you loved him." Her voice was soft and gentle.

"You don't know anything, kid."

"I do know that even if you hide, it won't go away." With that, she walked off.

The woman made her way up the stairs of the abandoned house into a bedroom that was clearly a teenage girl's. "Look at this!" The girl showed off a box for a board game. The bright white and red words read Scrabble. "We can bring it home and play it with Kya and Matto!" Her wide and cheery smile sent flutters through Shania's heart. The pure, childlike innocence of her eyes and her smile was something Shania yearned to keep in her own children.

"Oh, I could school all of you in that game." The older woman chuckled as she took a seat on the bed next to Ellie. She splayed out across the bed as she watched the girl dig around the room for anything that grabbed her attention.

The girl let out a small gasp as she jumped onto the bed to show Shania. "Look! One of your comics!"

Shania shot up to look at the comic book in Ellie's hands. There was her name on the front page, and there was her art right there. The large red title read 'Dawn's Death.' She watched as Ellie began reading through it. Her smile grew as Ellie's face contorted between shock and wonder as she flipped through the pages. When she closed the comic, her eyes were wide and her mouth agape. "What the actual fuck was that?" Her hand hit Shania's arm hard. "How can you start a comic with the main character dying?"

"I mean, it's in the title." Shania laughed as she leaned back on her elbows. "God, I miss working on that."

A soft knock at the bedroom door grabbed their attention. Joel nodded his head as his greeting. "We found a truck. Apparently, Frank stole the engine and everything else from the school." He made his way over to the bed, leaning against the bed post. "We're gonna need help pushing it. He said if we get it going fast enough, the battery'll jump itself to life."

Shania and Ellie nodded. Ellie turned to stuff the game board into her backpack. She turned back and held the comic book out to Joel. "Nia used to be a comic book artist."

Shania let out a groan of embarrassment as her hands reached up to cover her face. Joel chuckled as he flipped through the thin graphic novel. Opening her fingers to peak through them, she watched his face as he read through it. With a soft sigh, she pushed herself up and yanked the book out of his hands. Ignoring his protests, she tossed the book out of the window. "Let's forget that ever happened."

Ellie laughed as she left the room, leaving Shania and Joel alone. Joel crossed his arms over his chest as a joking smirk grew on his lips. "Don't look at me like that." Shania laughed as she rubbed her face. Her cheeks began to heat up with a soft baby pink flush of color. "Seriously, don't say anything. You'll just make it worse."

"I didn't know you were an artist."

"Well, we haven't really shared many personal details in our time together." Shania chuckled as she leaned against the dresser. Her hands wrung nervously in front of her as her gaze remained on the floor.

"Look," Joel started, taking a step forward and deciding that was close enough, "back there at the building with those clickers, I wanted to thank you. I don't think I'd be here if you hadn't-"

"Bashed in the clicker's head?" Shania chuckled as she scratched her elbow. "Look, I get that you don't trust me and I really don't blame you. But as long as Ellie and I are in your company, I won't let anything happen to you." She offers a friendly smile before making her way past him.

His hand quickly caught her forearm to stop her. "Just to be clear, I do trust you."

Her smile grew nearly ten times at the statement. "I trust you, too, Joel." His hand let go of her arm as he turned to follow her down the steps. "Alright, let's get this show on the road." She clapped her hands together and approached the driver window where Ellie sat. The young girl smiled mischievously smile at her friend. "You're a little bitch, y'know that?"

Ellie giggled quietly. "C'mon, Nia! You two are perfect for each other - old and miserable."

Shania rolled her eyes before pushing the kid's face away. The girl continued to laugh as the adults made their way around the back of the truck. On the count of three, they began pushing the truck out of the garage. Pushing it down the small hill, Ellie attempted to get the truck started, but received nothing but a sputter.

The adults caught up before beginning to push it again. Before they could get far, a small group of runners and a clicker charged at them. Bill took out two runners with his machete while Joel shot at the clicker with his shotgun. Shania continued to push the truck as well as she could. The men joined and helped push the truck a little further. The truck continued to sputter out nothing.

They got the truck a little bit further before another small group of infected crawled out from the houses. Shania continued to push as the men fought off the runners and the clickers. When they joined back in, they finally pushed the truck down the hill. When it got near the bottom of the hill, the truck sputtered to life. "You hear that, Bill?" Joel chuckled.

"Yeah, well, it means the infected hear it to."

The group quickly take off towards the truck as infected begin charging out of the houses. Hopping onto the bed of the truck, Ellie floors the gas and quickly drives away from the neighborhood. Shania leans her back against the truck with a soft sigh. Rubbing her face, she lets her eyes fall shut. Each bump in the road sent her body knocking against Joel's. Mumbling an apology each time, she scooted over away from him. Part of him wished for her to move back, but he'd never say that.

As they neared the edge of the town, Bill hit the side of the truck. "Alright, this is a good stop. Stop!" He yelled at Ellie who slowed the truck to a stop. Her confused eyes look to Joel who tells her to keep the truck running. All of the adults hop out of the truck to talk. "That little girl nearly got us killed."

"She held her own back there." Joel responded, earning a small smile from Shania.

"Both of you are gonna get killed with the way you're goin'." Bill scoffed as he pulled his backpack off of his back. His hands searched through it before pulling out a plastic tube and tossing it to Joel. "Here. You'd be surprised at how many of these old cars still have gas in 'em."

Joel nodded his thanks to Bill. "Look, Bill, about your partner back there," his eyes searched anywhere but Bill's face, "that's real tough. I'm sorry about that."

Bill slowly nodded. "We square?"

"We're square." Joel answered.

"Are we square?" Bill turned his attention to Shania.

"Square as can be." She offered a smile.

"Good. Both of you get the fuck out of my town." Bill snapped with a harsh glare.

Shania took a step forward, pulling the older man into a tight hug. "Thank you, Bill." She whispered as she squeezed him in the hug.

His arms awkwardly wrap around her. It had been so long since he'd been hugged. He couldn't even really recall when the last time was or who had even given him one. Maybe it was Frank - he had always been the affectionate one of the two. With a soft sigh, his body finally relaxes against hers. "Maybe I'll see ya around, kid."

"I'll come back for you." She smiled as she pulled away from the hug. Turning, she rounded the truck and climbed into the passenger seat. She gave one last wave to the man as Joel drove off. Her heart felt heavy but her smile was light. Bill had somehow carved a special place in her heart and she refused to let him go too easy.


	10. we're all bad people some times

TW: ALLUSION TO AND MENTION OF R*PE

HER CHIN RESTED AGAINST HER FIST AS SHE STARED OUT AT THE QUICKLY PASSING LANDSCAPE. The rain trickled down in a soft mist. Letting out a deep yawn, she slowly began to smile. Comfortable silence fills the truck as Joel rubs exhaustion out of his eyes. In the back, Ellie lies on her side, her back towards the adults. "Y'know," Joel started, grabbing Shania's attention, "you never told me how you and Bill met."

Letting out a soft chuckle, Shania ran a hand through her loose brown hair. "One time, I was with a small group of Fireflies - maybe like three or four - and I went out to scavenge and see what I could find. Next thing I know, I get knocked out by the handle of a machete." She giggled at the blurred memory. "When I woke up, Bill held a gun to my head for nearly two hours, just constantly questioning me. He would ask me questions he had asked before just to see if I'd mess up. God, we yelled at each other for the entire day. By the time he finally untied me, I was too damn tired to go back to my men. He let me stay the night and took me back to where my men were the next day, but..." She trailed off with a small frown forming on her lips. "I guess hunters or bandits had gotten to them first because it was a bloodbath. He let me stay with him and Frank for about a month. We'd just take out infected that were too close to their hideout at the time or set new traps - the works. After about a month, I had finally gathered enough supplies to make the trip back to HQ on my own and I left." Her fingers twiddled together as she thought on so many memories the trio had made in their short time together. "Bill's a good guy, just grouchy and closed off to the world."

Joel nodded in silence. He had never even heard Bill mention a Frank and the fact that she had met the man told him that she had clearly met the scavenger before he and Tess had met him. "Bill used to work with Tess and I. He'd help us smuggle things, or even find where the hell the drop offs were. He was always good with directions. Anyone needed anything that was damn near impossible to find knew that Bill was their man. Hell, I've heard that even soldiers would sometimes go to him for contraband and all that junk."

Shania nodded. In her month with Bill, she had never really seen him complete any jobs. They merely had run errands throughout the city he had claimed as his own. Before the adults could share anymore words, Ellie shot up from her seat. "No fuckin' way!" She shouted, startling both Joel and Shania. "You've got to be fucking kidding me!"

"Hey, what happened to sleepin'?" Joel scoffed as he looked at the girl through his rear view mirror.

"Look," she held out a graphic novel for them to see, "this may not look like it, but it is an amazing read. There's only one problem." She flipped through to the very last page, pointing out the small yellow square in the corner. "'To be continued.' I hate cliffhangers." Ellie plopped back down into her seat with a huff of frustration.

"Where'd you even get that?" Joel asked with his eyebrows furrowed.

Both Shania and Ellie grew small, mischievous smiles on their lips. "I... got it back at Bill's."

"Ellie, he told you not to touch anything."

"He wasn't using any of it!" She exclaimed as she gestured towards her backpack.

With a sigh of exhaustion, Joel glanced back at her through the mirror. "What else did'ya get?"

Ellie let out a chuckle as she began digging through her backpack. Shania turned to take in the things the teenager had stolen. "This make you two nostalgic?" She held out a cassette tape for the adults to observe.

Shania scoffed as she read the name Hank Williams. Rolling her eyes, she jokingly shoved the kid back. "That was before our time, thank you very much."

"But that is a winner." Joel chuckled as he pushed the cassette into the player. The whiny country singer began playing through the nearly broken speakers.

Both Ellie and Shania shared a grimace. "Better than silence, I guess." Ellie mumbled as she turned her attention back to her items. When she pulled out a magazine, another sly smile grew on her lips. "Bet your friend'll be missing this tonight." She chuckled as she began flipping through the pages.

Shania chuckled as she watched the girl's eyes widen with each flip of the page. Joel glanced back through the mirror with wide eyes. "Ellie, that is not for you." He reached back in a vain attempt to take it from her.

The girl pulled back, holding her hand out to stop him. "Hold on, now. I want to see what all the fuss is about." She opened one page and unfolded the centerfold. "Holy shit!" She exclaimed as her eyes practically bulged out of her head. "How does he even walk around with that thing?" Spinning the magazine around for Shania to see, the woman let out a loud laugh before covering her mouth with her hand.

"Ellie, throw that out the window!" Joel turned his gaze to Shania who giggled endlessly. "I can't believe you're encouraging this."

"What, it's not like she likes it." She chuckles and leans back in her seat. "Chill out, dad. She's bound to see it someday."

"And fourteen is that age?"

"Why are these pages stuck together?" Ellie asked as her eyebrows furrowed. Both Joel and Shania shared a look, speechless. After another brief moment of tension, Ellie busted out laughing. "I'm just fucking with you guys." Rolling down her window, she chucked the magazine out into the rainy world outside. "Bye bye, dude!" She called after it. Leaning up, she turned her gaze to Shania. "You mind if we switch spots?"

The older woman nodded before crawling her way to the back seat. When Ellie plopped down into the passenger seat, Shania took this time to lie down and catch up on some much needed sleep. "You really should get some sleep." Joel told Ellie.

The teenager scoffed. "I'm not even tired." She rested her chin on her fist as she stared out at the passing landscape around her. Nothing could compare to this. This trip would be one she knew she would remember for the rest of her life.

Before long, both Ellie and Shania were passed out. The sun had finally come out from behind the rain clouds, lighting up the sky. Movement from the back seat grabbed Joel's attention. He glanced back at the woman through the mirror to see her still fast asleep. Taking in her features, he realized he hadn't seen her look this at ease and peaceful since they'd met. The wrinkles that normally donned her forehead were smoothed and her eyebrows remained unfurrowed. Her breathing was gentle as her chest rose every few seconds before dipping. His own eyebrows furrowed when he caught sight of the long scar that ran from the corner of her jaw up to her ear. It was one he hadn't noticed before. Turning his attention back to the road, he noticed Ellie watching him with a large smile. "What?" He asked, glancing over at the girl.

"You like her." Ellie chuckled. "I saw you watching her sleep like some perv. You've totally got the hots for Nia."

"I do not." Joel rolled his eyes, glancing at the mirror to make sure the older woman was still asleep. She was. "And you need to keep your voice down. You're gonna wake her up."

Letting out a soft chuckle, Ellie shook her head. "Wow, you already care about your wife so deeply."

"Ellie." His tone warned her to stop talking.

A yawn from the back seat froze both of them. Shania pushed herself up in the seat as she pulled her hair into a loose and messy bun. Stretching her limbs, she let out a soft sigh of contentment. "Are we almost there?"

Joel chuckled as he shook his head. "Not even close." Glancing up, he slammed on the brakes. Both ladies grunted as they stopped themselves from hitting anything. Cars clogged the entire road other than the off ramp. Joel cursed under his breath as he glanced at the road behind him. Something in his gut told him to turn around and find another way. Both Shania and Ellie looked to him with questioning gazes. "Fuck it." He mumbled before turning onto the off ramp.

Before they could even get down the road, a man stumbles out into the middle of it. He holds his stomach and cries out in pain. Joel pulls his seatbelt on as Ellie tells him to help the man. Telling the ladies to put their seatbelts on, they comply. His boot slams onto the gas, charging at the man. As they near him, he pulls out a gun and begins firing. Hunters begin jumping from their hiding spots and firing at the truck. The hunter's body slams against the truck and falls to the pavement.

As the truck slams into body after body, a bus is pushed down a hill, colliding with the truck and sending it crashing into a store. Shania groans as she flings the seatbelt off. "Everyone alright?" Joel asks as he pulls his own seatbelt off. When both respond positive, he pushes himself out of the truck. "Get your things, we're going."

A hunter flings Ellie's door open and pulls her out. Before Joel can grab Ellie, a hunter pulls him away. Shania grabs her pistol and jumps out of the truck and into a hunter. His arms wrap tightly around her before throwing her into a shelf. Her vision blurs for a moment, but becomes clear as the hunter begins to climb on top of her. "We'll have fun with you, bitch." He hisses.

Her pistol quickly presses against his chin before she pulls the trigger. Blood and brain matter fly in the air and onto her. The body collapses on top of her. She shoves the body to the ground before pushing herself up. Her eyes glance between Ellie and Joel who both fight with their own hunters. With a huff of annoyance, she aims her gun at the man on top of Ellie. Pulling the trigger, his body falls onto the ground next to the girl.

Joel elbows the hunter in the face before slamming his head into the chunk of broken glass. The three regroup, grabbing their items from the truck and making their way out of the store. "We should leave before more join up." Shania nods towards a steel garage door across the street.

Before she could walk any further, Joel grabs her arm to stop her. "Are you alright?" He asks as he looks over her face. Blood is still fresh on her and he can't tell if any of it is her own.

"Yeah, jackass climbed on top of me, so..." She shrugged her shoulders and gestured towards the blood and bits of gore that stuck to her. Leading them to the steel door, she began pulling the chain of the door to open it as much as she could.

Ellie quickly made her way under before freezing. Joel grabbed the bottom of the door, holding it up for Shania to crouch under. Her eyes widen at the grotesque sight. "Shania!" Joel exclaims as his hands begin to shake under the weight of the door. Without a word, the woman grabs the bottom of the door and holds it for Joel to crouch under. His own eyes widen at the sight of multiple corpses littering the floor of the garage. "See, this could'a been us."

Shania approaches one of the corpses of a woman. The body was emaciated and half naked. The only thing on her was her bra. Dried blood stained the inside of her thighs eliciting a grimace from the older woman. She winces at the smell that filled the entire room. "Those fuckers raped her before cutting her throat." Shania spoke with pure disgust in her voice as she pushed herself up.

She followed as Joel began making his way up a set of stairs. "How'd you know?" Ellie asked from behind him.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"How'd you know about the ambush?"

Joel hesitated. This grabbed both of the ladies' attentions. "I've been on both sides." He finally answered.

"Oh." Ellie mumbled as she glanced back at Shania. The woman stared at Joel with wary eyes. It was almost like every ounce of trust she had for the man was gone. But she had done bad things, too. Those soldiers she had killed were more than likely innocent - just men trying to finish their shifts before getting home to their families. But she had never lured them into a trap to murder and rape them. "So, kill a lot of innocent people?"

Joel hummed in response.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Take it however you want." Joel almost snapped at the young girl.

"Were you a hunter?" Shania spoke up, grabbing his attention and holding his gaze with a scrutinizing glare.

"No," he shook his head, "I was a survivor."

"That sounds like code for hunter." Her arms crossed over her chest. Leaning her back against the wall, she watched as Ellie and Joel looked around the large barracks.

"I did what I had to to survive."

"By murdering innocent people?"

"Don't act like you've never hurt anyone." Joel snapped at the woman.

"I've never lured anyone into a trap just to murder them." The two adults stood close, ready to throw down into a fight any moment. Any semblance of friendship they had begun to form was thrown out the door. "You acted like I was a goddamn monster for saving your ass from those guards who were trying to kill you and here you are, alive because you jumped and killed innocent survivors who stopped out of the kindness of their hearts to help you. Fucking hypocrite." She pushed past him and made her way to the exit.

With his jaw clenched, he looked down at his tight fists. He knew he could never hit her. But he'd be lying if he said he hadn't thought about it in that moment.


	11. either him or me

HER HEART RACED AS SHE STARED DOWN THE ELEVATOR SHAFT. Curses spilled out of her lips. Her breath was caught in her throat as her eyes looked for any sign of the man. "Fuck." She hissed as she pushed Ellie further away from the edge of the elevator. When the man she searched for finally surfaced from the water below, she let out a small sigh of relief. "Joel! Are you alright?" She yelled down to him.

"Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine!" He yelled back as he attempted to wipe the water from his eyes. "Are you guys okay?"

"No!" Ellie shouted with a huff of air. "I almost had a fucking heart attack! Look, we're on our way down there-"

"No!" Joel called out, stopping the women from moving. "You two stay up there. I'll make my way to you!"

"Are you sure?" Shania asked with hesitance in her voice.

With a sigh, Joel nodded his head. "Yes! Stay there. I'll get to you!"

More curses spilled past her lips as she led Ellie away from the elevator. The older woman took a seat on a torn couch and placed her head in her hands. Her breathing was jagged as she attempted to calm her shaky hands. She began quietly humming 'Blackbird' by The Beatles to calm herself down. Her fingers gently ran along the scars that littered her arms.

"Should we maybe meet him halfway?" Ellie asked as she took a seat next to Shania. Her fingers twiddled together and her feet tapped rapidly.

Shania shook her head as she let her arms fall to her side. "No, we should wait here for him. We'll just end up lost if we go looking for him."

Ellie nodded with a soft sigh. She knew the woman was right, but part of her felt odd about just sitting and waiting for Joel to show up. Especially after their encounters with the hunters earlier, she knew it was dangerous territory. Pushing herself up, she began pacing around the small hotel hallway. Her hands twitched as she began rubbing her left pinkie and ring finger.

Her legs bounced rapidly as she continued to gently hum to herself. Maybe Ellie was right. Maybe they should just go ahead and try to meet up with him. "Fuck." She hissed as she pushed herself off of the couch. "Alright, let's go find the old geezer."

A large smile grew on Ellie's lips as she followed the older woman. As they walked down the hallway, they quickly ducked behind a desk when two hunters entered the hallway. Ellie held her pocketknife closely to her chest while Shania quietly pulled her pistol out of its holster. Glancing out from behind the desk, she watched one of the hunters grow near them. She turned to the teenager and nodded towards them.

In a moment, they both popped out from behind the desk. Ellie stabbed the one closest while Shania shot the one further away. Both of the men collapsed to the ground, lifeless. The teenage girl pulled her knife out of the corpse before letting out a heavy breath. "Man, that was..." She trailed off.

Shania simply nodded as she led the girl down the hallway. As they grew near a large bar room, they could hear a struggle happening in there. The young girl took off after the noise. Before Shania could follow, an arm grabbed her from behind. A hand covered her mouth to muffle her shouts. Her body struggled against the man with ferocity. "You and your bitch family have killed too many of our men." His voice was rough and gravelly as he spoke in her ear. "Now we're gonna make you watch your little boyfriend die." He began leading her into the large room where Joel wrestled with a hunter and Ellie was nowhere to be seen.

The hunter in front of her held Joel down in the water. She began fighting against the man with a newfound panic. "No!" She shouted through the man's hand that covered her mouth. With a shout, she slammed her head back, colliding with his nose.

"You bitch!" He shouted as his arms let go of her to hold his bleeding nose.

Her elbow slammed into his face again before she kicked him in the stomach. The man stumbled against the wall as she pulled her hunting knife out and proceeded to stab it into his stomach repeatedly. When his body went limp to the ground, she took a step back. A gunshot rang from behind her, grabbing her attention. Turning, her eyes widened at Ellie standing over the hunter that wrestled Joel with a gun in her hand. She wiped her knife off against her jeans as she made her way over to the two.

"Man, I shot the hell out of that guy, huh?" Ellie mumbled as Joel managed to catch his breath. Her eyes darted between him and Shania next to her. "Did you see me, Nia? I just grabbed the gun and bam! His head was gone!"

Shania let out a chuckle as she nodded. "Good job, kid." She held her hand up for the girl to high five. Both women took a seat on a large crate in front of him.

"No, not good job." Joel snapped as he pushed himself out of the water. His hand snatched the gun away from the girl. "I almost got my head blown off by some goddamn kid. And why the hell didn't you two hang back like I told you to?"

"Well, you're glad we didn't, right?" Ellie glared at the man.

Joel scoffed and shook his head. "I'm glad you didn't put a bullet in me-"

"How about a 'hey Ellie, I know it wasn't easy, but it was either him or me, thanks for saving my ass.'" Ellie snapped as she pushed herself off of the crate. Her hands waved in the air out of frustration as she glared down at the older man. He pushed himself up, staring down at her. "You got anything like that for me, Joel?"

With a moment of hesitation, the man shook his head. "We gotta get going."

Shania rolled her eyes. Pushing herself off of the crate, she winced at the new pain in her ribs. She followed them towards the ladder set up against the wall. Climbing up onto the second level, the group made their way through the hotel. They jumped down the set of broken stairs and down a hallway that led to a ballroom.

Ellie made a b-line for the island backdrop that was hung up for couples back in the day to take their photos in front of. Shania took a seat at one of the tables, grimacing at the sharp pain in her chest. Joel approached the young girl and began gathering the supplies nearby. "That's a backdrop. People would take their picture in front of it." He told the teenager.

"Yeah, I know what it is." Ellie snapped back as her arms crossed over her chest.

With a humorless chuckle, Joel nodded. "Alright then, what's wrong, Ellie?"

"Look, I wasn't trying to disobey you back there. It's just... You were taking a long time and Nia and I thought something might have happened to you."

Shania pushed herself up to join the others. "Well, it don't matter what you think. When I tell you to do something-" He stopped short when Shania grabbed his arm. Her head shook and her gaze told him to stop speaking. With a sigh, he just let the conversation drop. Turning around, he noticed the piano that was abandoned near the broken ledge of the second level. "Think you can help me move that piano?" He asked the woman next to him, who simply nodded.

The two adults made their way onto the small stage. "I wish I could play piano." Shania mumbled as she pressed a few keys that were clearly out of tune.

"When we were kids," Joel started as he pressed a key on the lower end, "our mama made Tommy and I take lessons."

"No fuckin' way." She chuckled as she rounded the back of the piano, ready to push it.

"Dead serious." Joel joined her in pushing the piano against the wall. "I think Tommy stuck with it, but my hands hurt too damn bad from it."

Letting out a soft giggle, Shania lifted herself onto the piano before jumping onto the second level. Both Joel and Ellie followed after. The group made their way over towards a large and open room. French glass doors were wide open, leading to the roof and scaffolding ahead.

The moment they hopped onto the scaffolding, they quickly ducked to avoid being seen by the hunters on the road below. Joel grabbed the hunting rifle from the dead body in the chair to their right. "Alright now," Joel started, keeping his voice down for only them to hear, "Shania and I are gonna jump down there and we're gonna clear out a path."

"What about me?" Ellie asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"You stay here."

"This is so stupid." Ellie hissed. "We'd have more of a fucking chance if you'd let me help you guys."

"I am." Joel snapped back. Holding out the rifle to her, he nodded down towards it. "Now you seem to know your way around a gun. You reckon you can handle that?"

She shifted her weight on her legs. "Well, uh... I sorta shot a rifle before." Her voice was hesitant. "But it was at rats."

Both Joel and Shania shared a look as they furrowed their eyebrows. "Rats?" They spoke in unison.

"Yeah, with BBs." Ellie shrugged.

With a nod, Joel took a step towards Ellie. "Well, it's the same basic concept." He helped her adjust it against her shoulder in preparation for the kickback. He showed her how to reload the weapon. "Listen, if we get in trouble down there, you need to make every shot count."

Ellie nodded. "I got this." Her eyes looked up at Shania who gave the young girl a thumbs up.

Joel turned to lead the way off of the scaffolding. He stopped and turned to Ellie. "Just so we're clear about back there, it was either him or me." With that said, both him and Shania made their way down to the ground.

"You're welcome." Ellie mumbled.


	12. safety in numbers

SHE STARED DOWN AT THE GROUND. Her hands shook violently and her breathing became labored. Heights were never her strong suit. Taking a deep breath, she turned her attention to the window they made their way towards. Curses spilled from her lips as the group scooted along the ledge towards the window. "God, fuck this." She hissed under her breath as she watched Joel push himself through the window.

Both her and Ellie followed after into the small apartment. Shania let out a sigh of relief when her feet landed on steady ground. The three search through the rooms for any supplies they could gather. While Shania searched through one room, Joel searched through the bedroom. The glint of metal grabbed his attention. A small necklace lied on the ground next to the bed. Grabbing the necklace, he noticed it was a Firefly pendant with 'Shania Willis' inscribed on the back.

Pushing himself up, he took notice of the dried blood that covered the bed post. "Hey, Shania," he called out. The older woman entered into the room with a small frown on her lips. "You been here before?"

"This town or this apartment?"

"Both."

She furrowed her eyebrows before shrugging her shoulders. "I've been a lot of places, Joel. What's your point?"

Holding out the necklace, his gaze turned into a glare. "Well, I found your dumb necklace." When she opened her hand out to him, he let the necklace drop into her palm. "Maybe you're the hunter here."

Letting out a chuckle, she clipped the pendant on. "So that's where this has been." Looking around the room, she slowly began to nod. "Yeah, this is where I got jumped by a few hunters." Her boot clad feet carried her over to the window. Opening it, she looked down and began laughing. Her hand waved the older man over to join her side. When he leaned over, his eyes widened at the sight of a hanging corpse. "Jackass and his friend jumped me while I was scavenging this area." She turned and pointed at the bed post with blood on it. "I hit his head against this." Crouching, she picked up a tooth from the floor. "Want a memento of this moment?" She held the tooth out to him while chuckling.

Joel shook his head while wincing. "Where's the other-"

Before he could finish his question, they were both stopped when Ellie yelled out from the other room. "Holy shit! Guys, come check this out!"

A smirk grew on Shania's lips as she followed Joel out of the bedroom. In the bathroom, a corpse was stabbed into the wall of the shower. Letting out a chuckle, she leaned against the doorway. "Do you get it?" She asked Joel. "It's supposed to look like that scene from Psycho. Y'know, that shower scene where he comes in and-" She began making the classic soundtrack noise from the movie as she pretended to stab the body.

When Joel simply nodded, she began to feel awkward and uncomfortable. The man left the bathroom, leaving Ellie and Shania alone. "I don't get it." Ellie stared up at the body with furrowed eyebrows.

"It's from a really old movie." Shania chuckled as she began fiddling with the necklace. Its presence was long forgotten and almost foreign to her. "Even before our time. It was good, though."

Ellie slowly nodded. After another moment of silence, the girl wrapped her arms around Shania in a tight hug. The older woman slowly wrapped her arms around her before pressing a gentle kiss to the top of her head. "Thanks for coming with us." She mumbled against Shania's stomach.

"Where you go, I follow, kid." Shania chuckled. "We'll get home soon - I know it."

"C'mon," Joel called from the other room, "we got to get going."

The ladies pulled away from their hug, making their way out of the bathroom. Joining Joel's side, they climbed out of another window onto the ledge. Shania let out a curse as she climbed out onto the ledge with the rest of the group. They scooted their way over to another window. "You think those hunters in the truck will come back?" Ellie asked much to Shania's dismay.

"Please, Ellie, don't bring that up while I'm trying not to fall to my death."

"Just keep your footing." Joel told the older woman. "You ain't gonna fall."

"Thanks for the advice, pal." Shania rolled her eyes. She watched as Joel entered another window. The moment she entered behind, she was slammed into the wall. Joel wrestled with a man as Ellie hopped in with her knife out. She was shoved over after slicing the man's arm. Shania pulls her gun out but freezes when she sees the child in front of her aiming his own gun at Joel. "Joel!" She yells out, stopping the man from fighting the stranger.

He looks up to see the kid with the pistol. Holding his hands up, he steps away from the man on the floor. "They're not the bad guys." The man speaks as he pushes himself off of the floor. "Man, you hit hard." He groaned as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah," Joel looks between the young man and the kid with him, "well, I was trying to kill you."

"Yeah, I thought you were one of them, too." The man chuckles as he pulls out a wrap of bandaging to wrap his arm. "But then I saw her and I knew you weren't. If you haven't noticed, they don't keep kids around. Survival of the fittest and all that bullshit."

The young boy still grips the weapon with shaky hands. Shania takes a step closer to Joel as she puts her gun back in its holster, keeping her hands resting on it. The man in front of them pulled the gun from the kid's hand and placed it in his own holster. "I'm Henry. This is Sam." He motioned towards the young boy. "I take it you're Joel?"

"I'm Ellie!" The teenager exclaimed from behind Shania. "This is Nia."

Both Joel and Shania sent the young girl a sharp look. "How many are with you?" Joel asked with a scrutinizing gaze.

"They're all dead." The younger boy, Sam, spoke with a frown.

"Hey," Henry stopped him, "we don't know that." He finished wrapping the cut on his arm. "There were a bunch of us. Someone had the brilliant idea of entering the city - look for supplies. Those fuckers ambushed us, scattered us. Now it's all about getting out of this shithole."

Both Joel and Shania shared a look. It was clear both were still on guard and hesitant. "We can help each other." Ellie spoke up, grabbing both of the adults' attention. They both sent her a look that told her to stop talking. "What? Safety in numbers and all that."

"She's right." Henry offered a small, reassuring smile. "We could help each other." With a short hesitant moment, he let out a soft sigh. "We got a hideout not far from here. It'd be safer if we chat there."

Joel looked to Shania to gauge her reaction. Grabbing his arm, she pulled him to the side. "You really wanna bet on these guys?" She whispered, glancing between the man in front of her and the two boys across the room.

"They seem to have done well so far." 

Slowly nodding her head, she shrugged her shoulders. "Wherever you go, we'll follow."

Joel turned his attention back to the two. "Alright, take us there."

Henry chuckled as he turned towards the door for the apartment. "Follow me." He told the trio before making his way out.

"Sorry about the whole gun thing." Sam told the young girl behind the adults.

"Don't worry." Ellie offered a comforting smile to the boy. "I would've probably done the same thing. So, where you from?"

"All the way from Hartford." Sam responded as they began making their way down the stairs of the complex.

"Really?" Ellie furrowed her eyebrows. "I heard some bad stuff going on down there."

"We gotta be careful." Henry told the group as they winded down the steps. "We're right next to one of their lookout areas." The group remained silent behind him. "So, it's just you guys and your daughter?"

"We're not related." Ellie shook her head. "We're more like... um..." She trailed off.

"We promised someone we'd look after her." Joel answered, glancing back at Shania who was humming a song to herself. 

"Well, it's still good to see some people staying together through this." Both of the adults remained silent, save for Shania's humming. When they finally reached the bottom of the stairs, the group entered what looked to be a former toy store. Various toys and stuffed animals littered the floor along with small playground sets. A large window covered the front of the building. As they neared the window, a loud rumble forced them all to duck behind a bench inside. The large military truck of hunters slowly passed through in search of them. 

After the truck had passed, they all stood back up. Sam approached a small robot toy, picking it up and examining it. Internally, he debated whether or not to throw it in his backpack before Henry saw. "Sam," his older brother spoke, grabbing his attention, "what're you doing?"

The boy looked up with the toy still in his grasp. "Nothing." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Get rid of it."

"My backpack is practically empty!" Sam exclaimed with a frown.

"What's the rule about takin' stuff?" Henry approached the young boy with a scrutinzing gaze.

Shania's eyebrows furrowed. Her arms crossed over her chest as she watched the interaction with distaste. 'He's a kid,' she thought to herself. 

"It weighs like nothing."

"The rule - what is it?" Henry snapped.

"We only take what we have to." Sam dropped the toy with a soft sigh. There was an evident sadness in his eyes as he turned to follow his older brother to the back of the store.

Joel followed after the two while Shania and Ellie hung further back. The teenage girl quickly crouched down to pick up the toy and stuff it into her backpack. The older woman sent her a smile before slinging her arm around the girl's shoulder. "Proud of you, kid." She pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

"I took what I had to."


	13. blueberries

HER EYES STUNG FROM THE EXHAUSTION THAT HIT HER LIKE A BUS. A soft sigh escaped her lips as she stretched her back. A yawn made its way through her body as the group made their way through an office. Ellie knocked into the woman with a giggle. "I don't get how you're tired." She laughed as she began skipping around the woman's sluggish movements. "I'm so hyped right now."

Shania chuckled as she let out another deep yawn - one that brought tears to her eyes. "Really? I couldn't tell." Her arm slung around the girl's shoulder as they followed the boys into the office room. The two plopped onto the couch as Ellie pulled out one of her comics and began reading it aloud to Shania. Sam took a seat next to Shania, leaning in to get a glance at the comic.

"Shania." Joel called, nodding for the woman to come over. The older woman slapped her hands onto her thighs before pushing herself off of the couch. From behind her, Sam offered a small box of blueberries to the teenage girl. The older man stared out at the window, declining Henry's blueberry offer.

"Hey, man, relax. We're safe." Henry chuckled as he made his way over to a table in the middle of the office.

Joel turned to face the man, glancing at Shania who stood to his left. "So why haven't you left?"

Henry shrugged. "We've been waiting for the right opportunity."

"And?" Shania spoke up, leaning her back against the wall.

With a small smirk, Henry nodded for them to follow him to a broken window. "Check this out." Both Shania and Joel joined his side, peering out the window. Outside the building there was a large metal gate with hunters patrolling. Shania nudged Joel's arm before nodding towards the large spotlight that was welded to the bridge. "Yeah, that spotlight'll be our biggest obstacle." Henry spoke when he noticed them taking count. "But they always put one guy on it every night so as long as we take that guy out, we'll be in the clear. After sunset, that's our window. With most of them gone, we could sneak right past 'em."

Joel and Shania shared a look. Both of them contemplated on how airtight the plan was. With a soft sigh and a nod, Joel turned back to Henry. "That could work."

"Oh, it'll work." Henry chuckled. "It'll definitely work." His attention was grabbed by the laughter of the children behind them. Ellie and Sam sat on the couch, attempting to catch blueberries in their mouths. Ellie tossed a blueberry up and opened her mouth, but flinched back when it hit her on the nose. Sam busted out laughing next to her. "It's been awhile since that boy even cracked a smile."

Out of the corner of his eye, Joel could see Shania smiling widely at the two. Her heart nearly burst as she watched Ellie laugh. The sound took her back to simpler times - when Matto had just been born and Ellie and Kya would play outside of the room with the many toys they had. All throughout the years, Ellie's laugh had always remained the same. Her smile was quickly replaced by a deep frown. It had been so long since she had seen her kids. From the time Marlene had added her to the group to move to Boston to their current sticky situation, it had been nearly three months.

"She don't seem bothered by all this." Henry spoke, breaking the silence.

"She's tough." Shania answered with a soft sigh. 

"Yeah," Henry chuckled and nodded, "that's an understatement."

Joel took another lasting look at Shania before making his way over to the set of chairs. "So, where were you two headin'?" Pushing back one of the chairs, he took a seat. Shania rounded the set of chairs and took a seat next to Joel. Pulling her legs up onto the small sofa, she rested her chin on her knees.

"I heard the Fireflies are based out west somewhere." Henry smiled as he took a seat across from them. "We're gonna join up with them." Joel quietly chuckled and rolled his eyes. His gaze fell on the woman next to him who remained silent. "Something funny?" Henry's tone suddenly turned sour.

"Just seems like there's a lot of people putting their stock on the Fireflies these days."

"Maybe there's a good reason for that." Shania snapped as her hand reached up to grip the pendant around her neck. 

Joel watched her with incredulous eyes. He scoffed as he shook his head before turning his attention back to Henry. "So, you don't know where they are and you're just gonna drag him across the country to find 'em?"

Henry scooted his chair closer as he glared at the older man. "I'll tell you what, how about I worry about my brother and you worry about your girls?"

Joel crossed his arms over his chest. "Easy."

Rolling her eyes, Shania hugged her legs to her chest. "Chill out on the dick size contest, guys." As she rubbed the exhaustion out of her eyes, she let her legs fall off of the sofa. "We're looking for the Fireflies too."

Henry's glare quickly dropped as he began chuckling. "No shit?" He laughed as he began rifling through his backpack. Pulling out a map, he flattened it against the table in front of them. "This is us." He pointed at a small circle on the map. "There's an abandoned military radio station just outside the city." Joel leaned his elbows on his knees as he studied the map in front of them. "Any survivors from our group are supposed to meet us there tomorrow. You and your girls wanna join us, it goes down tonight."

Both Joel and Shania shared a look. The woman gently nodded her head to the older man. "I guess we best rest up, then." Joel nodded his head as he leaned back on the sofa. 

Shania let out a loud yawn as she leaned her head against the back of the sofa. This was the time she had been waiting for all day. Holding her legs closely to her body, she let her eyes shut. Their weight was heavy as she let out another soft yawn. Within moments, she was out.

Ellie watched the two older adults sleep with a giggle. She popped another blueberry into her mouth before turning her attention back to the comic book on her lap. "So, are they your parents?" The boy to her left asked, nodding towards Joel and Shania.

"Oh, no." Ellie shook her head with a chuckle. "Shania's my best friend's mom and Joel's..." She trailed off, unsure how to word it. "He's basically our body guard."

"I heard that." Joel called out from the sofa. 

The teenager rolled her eyes and chuckled. "We're heading out to the Fireflies."

"So are we!" Sam laughed with a large smile on his lips. His excitement was evident at the idea the small group would be with them even longer. It had been so long since he had an actual friend in the world. He was just so lonely.

Ellie watched the adults with a smile. Her smile grew when Shania's head gently fell over, settling on Joel's shoulder. She put her comics back into her backpack before resting her head against the back of the couch. Within minutes, she fell asleep.

—-

A HAND POKED JOEL AWAKE. His eyes quickly opened as he attempted to regain his surroundings. Ellie hovered over him with a small smile. "Henry said it's time." She told the man. Her giggle made him furrow his eyebrows. When he moved to push himself off of the sofa, he froze when he felt the weight on his left side shift. Looking to his left, his eyes slightly widened at the sight of the sleeping woman leaning against his side. "You guys are so cute."

"Ellie." Joel warned as he rolled his eyes. Leaning over, his hand gently shook the woman. He froze when she mumbled something. It sounded like 'Pete.'

Her body jolted up. Her wide eyes searched the room, searching for anything familiar. When her gaze landed on Ellie, her body relaxed and her eyes slowly fell shut as she rubbed the exhaustion out of her face. "Sorry," she mumbled as she stretched her body, "I didn't think I'd sleep that well."

"Well," Ellie chuckled with a mischievous smile, "you did have Joel here as a pillow."

Shania's face flushed with a deep pink as she glanced between the teenager and the older man. "Sorry about that." Clearing her throat, she pushed herself off of the couch. Her hand grabbed the strap of her backpack and slung it onto her back. The group reconvened at the exit of the office. They all made their way down the stairs. Shania remained at the very back of the group; her eyes bore holes into the back of Joel's head, but he didn't seem to notice.

Ahead of them, Joel's mind raced. The name 'Pete' kept going through his mind. Was that her husband? Maybe it was a man back at her home with the Fireflies. All he could do was speculate. Everything in him told him to mind his own business and not ask her about it - she had never asked about his own nightmares, not that he'd tell her about them. But she had offered her own words of wisdom at the office building with Tess. Tess. His frown deepened with each memory of the woman that popped into his mind. 'Just get them to Tommy's and then they'll be his problem,' he thought to himself.

In front of him, Henry crawled up to a set of crates near the back of the lobby. Joel joined his side while Shania and the kids hid behind a crate behind them. "I'll take out the guy on the right, you get the guy on the left." His hand pointed out to the two hunters that crowded around a barrel fire.

Joel nodded. The two men silently crawled their way up to the hunters. Shania and the kids slowly made their way up with the men, taking shelter behind another set of crates. Joel and Henry were quick to grab the men around the throat, stopping them from shouting. Henry cut the hunter's throat with a makeshift shiv while Joel choked the other. When the bodies finally fell limp, Shania turned to the two kids. "I need you guys to stay here, okay?"

"What? That's bullshit!" Ellie hissed with a glare. "You've seen me with a gun, you know I can help!"

"We don't know how this is gonna play out, okay?" Shania snapped back. "If something happens to any of us, I need you to look after Sam."

Ellie remained silent as she slowly began to nod her head. Pulling out her pocketknife, she took a position in front of Sam.

Shania pulled out her gun before joining up with Joel and Henry. "I had the kids stay inside." She whispered to Joel, who simply nodded. He held out his hunting rifle to the woman. "What's this for?"

"I need you to get around and take out the guy on the light." 

She gripped the rifle tightly as she nodded her head. Taking a deep and shaky breath, she began crawling behind the cement roadblocks that littered the road. The large spotlight suddenly shined on the car she almost made her way to. The woman froze in her tracks. Her breath caught in her throat as she watched the light shine on everything in the area around her. Silent prayers raced through her mind.

As if the prayers had been answered, the light darted back over to the building across from her. She quickly made her way behind the car to her right. Taking another deep breath, she watched the spotlight cascade over her surroundings. The barbed wire fence a mere ten feet away from her was illuminated as well as a clicker that was stuck to the wire. A pit formed in her stomach. 

The spotlight moved to her left, giving her an open spot to make her way over to another car. Her knuckled began to ache from how tightly she gripped the rifle. Glancing up, she caught sight of the hunter that guided the light. There was another hunter, one with a sniper rifle, next to him. Cursing under her breath, she neared the edge of the car.

Raising the rifle, she lined the sight up with the man on the light. Before she could pull the trigger, the light began turning onto the car she hid behind. "Fuck." She hissed as she ducked behind the vehicle. Her heart pounded against her ribcage as the spotlight illuminated everything around her. Her eyes looked down to see a piece of light on her boot. She slowly dragged her foot closer towards her, pulling it out of the light. 

The light finally moved away from her and towards the building they had come from. Taking a quick breath, she pushed herself up and lined the sight of her rifle with the man on the platform. Her finger squeezed the trigger, firing the weapon. It kicked back and hit into her shoulder. A cry of pain echoed from the light as the spotlight was let go, aiming up at the sky.

A hunter hid on the opposite side of the car that Shania hid behind. She turned to make her way back to Joel and Henry when the hunter jumped over the car. His arms wrapped around her neck, cutting off her airway. Her fingers clawed at his arm in a vain attempt to set herself free. As her hands scrambled to find her hunting knife, her vision began to blur as black spots began to appear. Slowly, her hands began to fall limp as her lungs burned inside her chest.

When the arms were suddenly pulled away from her, her body fell forward. She gasped for air as her hands wrapped around the rifle. She spun around to see Henry stabbing the hunter repeatedly with his shiv. Her throat and her lungs burned fiercely as Henry turned to her. He spoke, but her pulse pounded in her ears. Shaking her head, she looked up to see a hunter aiming his rifle at Henry. Quickly raising her own rifle, Henry's eyes widened. He held his hands out in surrender as she fired the gun.

Henry flinched as the body collapsed next to him. His eyes darted between the woman and the hunter's corpse. When his eyes met Shania's, she simply nodded. "It's clear!" Joel called out to both Henry and Shania as well as the kids. The group reconvened together in front of one of the cars in the middle of the road. As Joel began to lay out a plan, they all froze at the sound of clicking behind them. 

Shania turned to see the clicker fighting against the barbed wire fence. Letting out a soft sigh, she grabbed a knife in one of the corpse's holster and approached the creature. She slammed the knife into its head, leaving it there as the clicker fell still and silent. Turning, she made her way back to the group. A large bruise was already beginning to form on her throat from the hunter's grip on her. Her right hand reached up to brush against the tender skin, wincing at the sharp pain. All eyes were on her when she rejoined the group. She simply nodded to the older man next to her, too sore to speak.

Joel led them over to the metal gate. "Henry, help me with this." The two men began pushing on the gate while Shania kept watch behind them.

The moment the gate scraped open, her eyes widened. "Go!" Her hoarse voice attempted to shout. The large military truck barreled through cars as it made its way towards them. The group ran into the gated area. Shania, Joel, and Henry all pushed the gate shut before pushing the bar down to lock the gate. The group quickly ran to the semi truck that was crashed into the wall at the edge.

Joel lifted Henry up first. The broken ladder creaked loudly as Henry pulled himself on top. Next was Sam. Hunters slammed into the gate in an attempt to open it. The metal groaned as the military truck as pushing against it. As Joel lifted Ellie onto the truck, the ladder snapped. Henry grabbed the girl's arm to help her on top of the truck. Both Shania and Joel traded worried looks as the gate's lock finally gave way. 

"Shit!" Henry shouted. "I'm sorry." He shook his head, looking between the adults on the ground and the large truck ahead of them. "I'm so sorry." He grabbed Sam and pulled him away, leaving Shania and Joel.

"Henry!" Ellie shouted after him. "What the fuck?!" With a huff of annoyance, she jumped off of the truck. Her hand slipped into Shania's. "We stick together."

Shania nodded before pulling her towards a metal door. Both adults began pulling the chain to open the door. After Ellie crawled under, Shania quickly made her way into the garage. Her hands held the door open for Joel to crawl under. The military truck began unloading their arsenal towards them. Shania let the door fall shut, deflecting any bullets the hunters shot at them.

Both Joel and Shania gasped for breath. Shania leaned her hands on her knees, leaning over in fear that she might vomit at any moment. "C'mon," Joel pulled the woman down into a crouch, "they're inside." He nodded towards the door that led out into a bar. 

She gripped her rifle tightly as they made their way out of the storage room. The two hid behind the bar. While Joel covered one side, Shania watched the opposite side. The moment a hunter passed the entrance of the bar, Shania grabbed him by the neck. Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, choking him as hard as she could. Even after his body ceased moving, she still held him in her grasp.

A hand gently grabbed her shoulder, bringing her back to the world. Looking up, she saw Joel staring down at her. She let the body fall to the floor next to her before pushing herself up. "Sorry." She managed to croak out. 

"Exit's over here." He nodded towards the door, letting his arm fall to his side. "We're almost out of this."

The woman nodded her head, following him to the set of glass doors. He pulled away the cart that blocked the door while Shania pushed the chained door open as much as she could. Ellie slid through the opening before following after. Joel held the doors open as he slid through. "The bridge is just up ahead." He nodded towards the yellow bridge ahead of them.

The moment they all took a breath, the military truck slammed into the fence to their left. "Shit!" Ellie exclaimed. The group took off running down the street towards the bridge. The military truck rammed into the fence, knocking it down. As the three ran down the street, the military truck began firing at them. Bullets ricocheted off of the pavement by Shania's feet. The adults dodged signs and roadblocks as they continued to run after Ellie. 

As they passed a roadblock, Joel's foot caught onto a snag in the pavements, pulling him down to the ground. Shania skidded to a stop, running back to help the older man up. The two adults took off as the truck continued to fire bullet after bullet at them. Shania's hands remained intertwined with Joel's as she led him down the road. The group quickly behind a bus and over a broken roadblock. 

The group came to a halt when they neared the edge of the broken bridge. "Fuck!" Ellie shouted as she looked down at the rushing waters below. As their hands departed, Shania stared back at the bus with her rifle drawn. The truck began slamming into one of the buses in an attempt to get to them.

"How many bullets you got?" He asked Shania. She simply shook her head. "What 'bout you, Ellie?"

"Not fucking enough!" She looked back down at the river. "We have to jump!"

"That fall will kill us and you can't even swim." Joel snapped at the girl. "We're gonna have to take our chances here." His gaze turned to the woman next to him, who simply nodded. The truck slammed into the bus, forcing some pavement to crumble and fall into the river below. 

"You'll keep me afloat." Ellie told the man with pleading eyes.

"Ellie!" Joel snapped and held his hand up to stop her from arguing.

"No time to argue!" She shouted before jumping into the river below.

"ELLIE!" Shania managed to shout before jumping in after her.

Joel huffed before jumping in after the women. All three landed in the water with a large splash. Shania's arms wrapped around Ellie's body, holding her head above the water. The currents dragged them down the stream, separating them and Joel. "Joel!" Ellie shouted as she coughed through the water that splashed up on her. His arms wrapped tightly around Shania, holding them all together. His eyes widened as he noticed the large boulder ahead of them. As the currents pulled them closer and closer, he quickly spun them. His back slammed into the boulder.

Everything went black.


	14. sewer rats

SHE HELD HIS HAND TIGHTLY IN HERS. Tears dared to spill down her cheeks as she stared down at his unconscious body. Her only hope of getting back to her children alive lied unconscious in front of her. Silently, she prayed to whatever higher being might be listening that the man woke up. The young girl next to her shifted to bring her legs up against her chest, resting her chin on her knees. His chest rose and fell with each breath. Her mind was occupied on the man in front of her as the other two men paced back and forth ahead of her.

"He'll be okay." Ellie muttered as she leaned over to rest her head on Shania's shoulder. The older woman simply nodded as she continued to stare down at the man. The girl's hand intertwined with the woman's free one. 

"Man, I'm glad I found y'all." Henry spoke with a chuckle. 

"Fuck off." Shania snapped, glaring up at the man. Her eyes shot daggers at him, silencing him. Her grip on Ellie's hand tightened. Part of her was still angry for leaving them behind. If they had just helped then Joel wouldn't be unconscious and Ellie wouldn't still be coughing up water from the river. 

Henry cleared his throat. "Look, I'm sorry about back there-"

"You should be."

"You need to understand-"

"Oh, I understand perfectly." Shania turned her gaze back to the man on the ground as she argued.

"Clearly you don't. I have to protect my li'l brother." Henry scoffed and turned to walk off. Sam followed closely behind his older brother, occasionally glancing back at the women. The two men made their way over to a broken boat to begin looking for things they could scavenge. "She's as hard-headed as that old man." He spoke with a chuckle.

"We're gonna stick with them, right?" Sam asked as his fingers twiddled together. His foot twisted in the sand. 

Henry hesitantly nodded his head. "Probably. Once Joel wakes up, we can head out. We're almost at the tower." His hands shuffled through an old fishing net. Nothing but trash was inside. With a sigh, he glanced back at the women. His eyes widened as he saw the unconscious man finally push himself up.

"Take it easy, cowboy." Shania mumbled as she helped sit the man up. Her hand gently rubbed against his back as he rubbed his face. "You had a hell of a hit back there." He groaned in response, eliciting a chuckle from her.

"Hey, you." Ellie chuckled as she moved to Shania's side. "We're all alive."

"See?" Henry laughed as he and Sam jogged up. "What'd I tell you? He's good. Everything's fine." 

Joel looked up with a glare. Under Shania's hand, his entire body tensed. The man pushed himself off of the ground and began approaching the two men. Before either woman could stop him, he shoved the man to the ground, pulling his gun out of his grip. He aimed the firearm at Henry with a sharp and angry glare. "Get back, son!" He screamed at Sam.

Henry held his hand up in surrender. His wide eyes stared with fright. Shania and Ellie approached from behind Joel. "He's pissed, but he's not gonna do anything." Henry said as he pointed his finger at the man.

"You sure about that?" Joel snapped as he took a step forward. 

"Stop!" Sam shouted at him.

"Joel!" Ellie took a step next to him to grab his attention.

"He left us to die out there." Joel turned to his right to look to Shania.

"If it was the other way around, would you have come back for us?" Henry asked.

Her hand reached up to grab his own and pull the gun down. "I'm pissed off, too. But let's not go shooting them." She offered him a small smile. "I'll give them that - we probably would've drowned if they hadn't helped." Joel held her gaze for a few fleeting moments before sighing. He tossed the gun to Henry's side before stepping away from them.

Sam quickly helped his older brother up off of the ground. When Henry rejoined the small group, he turned to Joel and Shania. "Y'know, for what it's worth, I'm really glad we spotted you." With a soft sigh, he pointed out towards the hills. "Now, that radio tower is on the other side of this cliff. The place is gonna be full of supplies. You're gonna be really happy you didn't kill me." With a chuckle, he and Sam began making their way towards another broken and abandoned boat. "Hey, we're gonna search this area, see what we come up with." He called out to the three behind him.

"Let's go check out this boat." Ellie grabbed Shania's hand and began pulling her towards the boat. Her eyes glanced back at the man behind them. "You cool?" She asked Joel.

The man simply nodded. "Let's go find that radio tower." The three hoisted themselves over a fallen tree trunk that separated themselves from the boat. 

"Keep your eyes peeled!" Henry called out from the other side.

Joel looked over to Shania with a roll of his eyes. The woman chuckled as she patted his back. "Glad you're back with us, old man." As they neared the blue boat, Shania opted to hoist herself and Ellie onto the top of the boat while Joel crawled into the large, rusted out hole in the bottom of the boat. She pushed open the door to the controls to find a box of tools as well as a note. The note recounted someone's tale at sea and how their boat had crashed. 'Ish,' she read in her mind with furrowed eyebrows. Pocketing the note, she called out to Joel about the tools.

He makes his way up onto the boat. Ellie looks out over the water from the edge of the boat. The water has calmed and flows in gentle waves with the breeze. The smell of salt stings their noses, but in a pleasant way. "I've never been on a boat before." She remarked as she leaned against the boat's railing.

"Well, it's a bit different in the water." Joel chuckled as he gathered the tools in his backpack.

"One step at a time." Ellie took a last look out at the water before joining Shania's side. The woman slung her arm around the girl's shoulders with a large smile. "You ever been on a boat, Nia?"

"Before all this, Emmett and I took Pete out on a ferry when he was a baby. God, Pete cried the entire time so we never went again." Shania chuckled at the memory that was still fresh in her mind. It felt like just the previous day that the world was normal and she had her family with her at all times. But it had been almost fourteen years since Pete had died, and nearly twelve years since Emmett died. Her only family was in another state, far away from her.

Joel listened from inside the boat's control room. Emmett was a name he hadn't heard yet. But Pete, that was familiar. It was the name she had called out in her sleep. A frown formed on his lips as he began to think about Sarah. Shaking his head, he forced away those intrusive thoughts.

"You ever miss them?" Ellie asked the woman.

"Every minute of every day." Shania offered a small smile before jumping off of the boat onto the ground below. She leaned down to rub her ankle before helping Ellie off of the boat. 

"For a second there," Ellie started as Joel made his way off of the boat, "I thought you might shoot him."

"Yeah," Joel shrugged his shoulders, "almost did."

"They're alright." Ellie shrugged her own shoulders with a small smile. "I think it's good to have 'em around." Shania nodded gently in agreement.

"I think you're right."

Ellie stared up at the large boat with furrowed eyebrows. "Did everyone have boats back then?" 

Shania chuckled and shook her head. The two adults shared a joking look as Joel glanced back at Ellie. "Yeah, I had a sixty foot yacht." The woman chuckled at Joel's response.

"Holy shit, really?" The young girl's eyes widened.

"No."

"Sarcasm." Ellie chuckled before turning to Shania. "We're making progress."

Shania laughed as she tussled the girl's hair. The three jumped over the fallen tree trunk to meet up with Henry and Sam. "There's a sewer grate over here that we can get through." Henry told them as soon as they reconvened. "I bet it goes all the way through." He waved Joel over to help him lift the grate.

The two men managed to pull open the grate and let the kids in before Shania crawled in. Her arms held the grate open as Joel made his way in. The two held it open as Henry finally crawled in. They all let the grate fall shut with a loud clang. Henry and the kids immediately began walking down the large pipe as Joel and Shania hung back. "I just wanted to say thank you." She spoke as they walked down behind the group.

"For what?"

"Jumping in after us, taking the brunt of the damage against that boulder, listening to us - the list goes on, really." She chuckled as her right hand reached up to rub against the small scar on her hand. "But don't go gettin' a big head, now. You're still annoying."

The adults shared a soft laugh. "I guess I should thank you for sticking with me while I was out."

"Well, someone's gotta keep you alive, old man." Her fist gently collided with his arm. He rolled his eyes with a minuscule smile that he attempted to hide from her. As they made their way through the pipe, their boots collided with the dirty water. Shania's face contorted in disgust. 

The group came upon a fork in the road. "Sam and I'll cover this side." Henry told them as he nodded to the left area.

"We can go this way." Ellie nodded towards the right side. Both Shania and Ellie began making their way through the sewer. Mud and dirty water squelched under their feet, eliciting winces of disgust from both. The older woman stretched her back and her arms. Her stiffened joints began to loosen the more she stretched. The three approached a gate that was blocked by a large tool box. "If you can get that grate open, I can get the door for ya." Ellie looked up at Shania with a bright smile.

Chuckling, Shania pointed back at Joel. "That's a job for the big guy back there."

Joel softly sighed as he walked past the women towards the small grate near the floor. His hands grabbed the bars and roughly tugged at it. The rusted grate cover easily popped off. Without a moment wasted, Ellie quickly got on her hands and knees and began crawling through the grate. "I can't believe we let her do this." Joel muttered.

"She can handle herself." Shania shrugged her shoulders as she approached the gate door.

Shortly after, Ellie kicked in the grate cover on the other side. She grunted as she pushed herself off of the ground. Her slim and tanned hands grabbed the handle of the tool box and pulled it away from the door. With a huff of exhaustion, she opened the door. "Ta-da!" She smiled proudly, holding up a hand to Shania. 

The two high-fived with playful smiles. "Good job, kid." She tussled the girl's auburn hair before entering the room. In the back of the room, there were a few boxes of ammo lying on a shelf along with a few other supplies. "Hey, Tex," she called out before tossing a box of shotgun ammo to the man, "figured you'd need this."

He nodded silently before turning back to rummaging through the tool box. 

"You're welcome." Shania muttered under her breath as she turned to pocket the few granola bars. Her hand connected with a small glass bottle in her front pocket. Cursing, she pulled the bottle of pink nail polish out. She opened it to see that some of it was still wet. With a smile, she opened a small pocket in her backpack and dropped the bottle in.

"Y'all ready?" Joel asked as he neared the door of the room. Both Shania and Ellie nodded, joining his side in leaving the room.

The group made their way to the end of the hall of the sewer before reaching a small alley that lead to Henry and Sam's side. They enter a large flooded room with some sort of lift in the middle. Joel walks down a small set of steps towards a pump handle. He grabs it and attempts to turn it, but to no avail. "Something's jammin' it." He told the group.

"I can't swim." Sam informs the group.

"Make that two of us." Ellie chuckled. 

Shania joins Joel's side. "Any plans, John Wayne?" Her arms cross over her chest as the two attempt to see through the water below them. "Anything you need me to do, I guess I should ask."

He gently shakes his head. "I'll find the block. You stay with them." The older woman nods before leaving his side and joining up with Ellie and the rest. Joel jumps into the water, diving under. The group watch in anticipation. After a fleeting moment, Joel surfaces. Shania lets out a soft breath of relief she hadn't been aware she was holding. "Alright, Henry, turn that handle."

Henry nods as he makes his way towards the yellow handle. As he turns it, the large door beside it begins to open more and more. "I'm gonna go see if I can find us something to get us across." Joel told the group before swimming past the large metal door.

Ellie and Shania took a seat on the edge of the concrete, their legs dangling just above the water. The younger girl rested her head against the woman's shoulder. "What's the first thing you're gonna do when you get back home?"

Shania hummed as she tapped her chin in concentration. "Probably take a nap." She chuckled as Ellie smacked her arm. Rubbing the spot she hit, she furrowed her eyebrows. "I don't know, probably draw with Matto or read with Kya."

"I miss Kya." Ellie mumbled with a small frown.

"Me too, kid. Me too." Shania pressed a soft kiss to the top of Ellie's head. The two pushed themselves off of the ground when they heard a loud screech. "Shit." She hissed as she attempted to look into the separate area. "Joel! Are you okay?" Shania called out.

"Yeah, just a few infected!" He called back. After a few moments of silence, the man swan out of the area with a wooden palette in his hands. Ellie groaned and rolled her eyes. "Hop on, kiddo." He instructed the girl as he pressed the palette against the concrete. The teenager jumped onto the palette with a soft grunt. Joel swam the palette over to the other concrete platform where she climbed up and started the generator.

The three jumped onto the platform in the middle of the room. The platform began moving, almost knocking them all over. Shania's hand grabbed at the pole to steady herself. When the platform reached the other side, the three jumped off. Shania neared the edge and held her hand out to Joel. "C'mon, old man, let's get out of this shithole." His hand grabbed her while his other hand reached out to grab the edge of the platform.

"I gotta say," Henry chuckled, "I'm impressed with you three."

Ellie shrugged her shoulders with a smug smile. "We're pros at this by now."

Shania rolled her eyes. The group began making their way down the sewer. Both Joel and Shania led the way. "So, Tommy went to Wyoming, eh?"

"Last I heard."

She nodded her head gently. "Why Wyoming?"

"Beats me."

With a soft sigh, she rolled her eyes. "You are the worst person to make small talk with. Or really just talk to, in general." The man remained silent, much to her frustration. When they made their way up a small set of steps, the group slowed as they reached a set of doors with a colorful castle drawn around it. Her eyebrows furrowed as she neared the door. Her hand reached out to gently run against the paint on the wall.

"What's up with this?" Ellie asked with hesitance in her voice. "You think there's people inside?"

"Maybe." Henry mumbled as he approached the doors.

"Are we really going in there?" Ellie turned her gaze to Shania.

"No other choice." Joel told the girl as he reached out for the handle. Shania's arm stuck out in front of him to stop him from opening the door. She pulled her rifle off of her shoulder and prepared herself for anything on the other side. As he pushed the door open, a small rope attached to a crate was unraveled. The crate dropped a set of bottles that shattered against the ground. Silence filled the air shortly after the clatter.

Shania slowly made her way inside, scoping out the area. The rest of the group followed behind; everyone's senses were on high alert. "I guess everyone who was here is long gone." She mumbled to Joel who simply nodded. On the wall to their left was a large sign that was labeled 'house rules.' "You think kids lived here?"

"Makes sense." He approached behind her, looking over the rules. His eyes looked over her as a frown formed on her lips. Tapping her hand with his, he nodded towards the hallway. "C'mon. Ain't doin' no good standing here." Shania nodded before turning to follow him.

They made their way through the hall. The kids jogged up to the soccer ball on the floor. "Holy shit! Nia, look!" Ellie held the soccer ball up to show the older woman.

"Ellie, don't-" Joel began but was stopped by Shania. Her hand wrapped around his wrist to stop him.

"Calm down, big guy." Ellie chuckled as she gently kicked the ball towards Sam.

The boy caught it in his hands and a large smile formed on his lips. "Henry, did you see that?" He laughed as he held the ball up to show his older brother.

"Let's keep it down, buddy." Henry told his brother as he glanced around the area.

Sam let the ball fall to the ground with a newfound frown. His shoulders slumped as his foot gently moved the ball. Shania released her grip on Joel's wrist before approaching Sam. "Good job, kid." She held her hand up to give him a high five. The boy gave a soft smile as he high fived the woman. "Wanna play a round of soccer?" The boy's eyes lit up as he nodded. Ellie chuckled as she joined Sam's side. "You traitor."

"What? You afraid we're gonna kick your ass, old lady?" Ellie laughed.

Shania raised her middle finger at the girl before readying herself.

Joel leaned against the wall behind Shania as he watched. A small smile began to creep up on his lips as he watched them kick the ball back and forth. Her hand reached out to grab the sleeve of his flannel and pull him towards her.

"Not fair!" Ellie exclaimed, pointing her finger at the two adults. "You can't just bring someone in!"

"What? You afraid we're gonna kick your ass, kid?" Shania sent a playful glare before kicking the ball. Occasionally, Joel would kick the ball back to keep the game going. The older woman kicked the ball, making it past the two kids. She cheered softly with her arms in the air. Turning to Joel, she threw her arms around him to pull him into a tight hug. "We are the champions! We are the champions! No time for losers 'cause we are the champions... of the world!" She sang after pulling away from the hug.

Ellie scoffed as she rolled her eyes. "You're annoying." Shania laughed as she wrapped her arms around Ellie, picking her up to spin her in the air. The two ladies shared a truly happy laugh as Shania gently set her down. 

"Let's keep on movin', you two." Joel called out to them.

They gave each other a high five before turning to join up with the group. As they made their way down the hall, the sound of screeching in the distant caused everyone's blood to run cold. "You hear that?" Henry asked, looking back at Ellie and Shania. "Infected."

"What are you trying to say?" Shania asked with a raised and pointed eyebrow.

"You know what I'm saying."

"Sorry for giving them some fun for once." Shania scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"It ain't worth it if it gets them killed-"

"Stop." Joel snapped as he turned back to look at both Henry and Shania. He shook his head as he turned back to focus on the screeching of the infected ahead. As they neared a set of stairs, a few runners and a clicker came charging out of a hallway. Joel used his shotgun to take out a runner closest to the stairs. Shania lined the sight of her rifle with the clicker that stumbled towards them. Pulling the trigger, the creature stumbled before screeching. She reloaded quickly before aiming and firing at it again. It fell to the ground with a few twitches.

The group made their way down the steps. "Well," Ellie started as she looked down at the corpses of the infected, "I guess we know what happened to these people."

"Seeing how there was a clicker, they've been gone for a while." Joel remarked as he grabbed a box of ammo that had fallen out of the pocket of a runner. 

"We keep moving forward." Henry told the group, eliciting an unseen eye roll from Shania. "All we can do is hope that there aren't any more of 'em."

The group hopped over a makeshift barrier and up a set of stairs. A rat scurried past Shania's foot. The woman flinched back with a face of disgust. "Jesus, these rats are huge." She muttered under her breath. A door to her left grabbed her attention. She approached and turned the handle, entering the dark room. Her face contorted in revolt at the pungent smell that filled the room. The air was thick, hot, and heavy. Pinching her nose, she approached the set of dirty blankets in the corner.

Her eyes widened as she realized there were bodies underneath the blankets. A piece of paper sat next to the rotting corpse of a guard. Picking it up, she read over the words. A deep frown grew on her lips the more she read. A presence behind her grabbed her attention. Joel stared down at a message on the floor. 'THEY DIDN'T SUFFER' was written in paint. "He killed them all." She spoke softly as she looked back down at the tiny bodies beneath the blankets. "He just... He murdered them."

"He didn't have a choice."

"Says who?" Shania turned to Joel with her eyebrows furrowed. "Says you? Says this guy?" Her hand motioned towards the guard's corpse. "That's bullshit and you know it." She shook her head as tears threatened to spill from her eyes. "Fuck." She hissed as she crumpled up the note and dropped it at her feet. The woman pushed past him and left the room. 

Ellie watched with concerned eyes. She remained silent as both Shania and Joel made their way out of the room and further down the hall. The group approached a staircase that led down. A broken walkway crossed above them but too far out of reach. Joel and Sam approached the gate door across from them. As Joel pushed the gate open, a large concrete door slammed shut, separating the group. Joel and Sam were stuck on one side while Ellie, Shania, and Henry were stuck on the other. "Fuck!" Shania hissed as she neared the large wall.

"Sam!" Henry shouted through the small window in the wall.

"I did it. I must've triggered some kind of safety gate or somethin'." Joel approached the wall and looked towards Ellie and Shania. "Y'all alright?"

Ellie nodded with a huff of air. "Other than the heart attack I just had? Yeah, all good." Shania simply nodded in response.

"Well, let's see if we can lift this." Joel told the adults on the other side. All three crouched down and began attempting to pull it open. Their attempts were in vain as they all let out a sigh of frustration. 

"Well," Ellie started, sharing a joking smile with Sam, "this is awkward."

"Yeah, I know." Sam chuckled. "It's like every time-"

He was cut off when the screech of clickers echoed not too far from them. "Shit." Shania hissed as she pushed herself up. "We got clickers comin'."

"What?" Joel snapped as he attempted to look through the small window. "Shit. Just... Just go, get outta here."

"Sam, you stay close to him." Henry told his younger brother.

"Henry! We've gotta go!" Shania shouted as her hand grabbed Ellie's. 

"Ellie, you stay with Nia!" Joel shouted at her.

"No fucking shit!" She shouted back as they took off running. 

Joel and Sam watched as a group of clickers followed closely behind.


End file.
